Genre: Adventure
Genre:
Puzzle
Development time: 6 months
Development time:
4 months
August 2025
March
2025
Hikos Dream is a Zelda-dungeon-inspired adventure game where you wake up in a mysterious ruin. Explore its multiple sections, uncover their cryptic language and realize what role you are destined to play.
Hikos Dream is a Zelda-dungeon-inspired adventure game where you wake up in a mysterious ruin. Explore its multiple sections, uncover their cryptic language and realize what role you are destined to play.
Hikos Dream is a Zelda-dungeon-inspired adventure game where you wake up in a mysterious ruin. Explore its multiple sections, uncover their cryptic language and realize what role you are destined to play.
Defeat challenging enemies blocking your path. Swing your sword and parry enemy attacks with precision. Overcome rooms full of enemies and use the environment to your advantage.
Defeat challenging enemies blocking your path. Swing your sword and parry enemy attacks with precision. Overcome rooms full of enemies and use the environment to your advantage.
Defeat challenging enemies blocking your path. Swing your sword and parry enemy attacks with precision. Overcome rooms full of enemies and use the environment to your advantage.
Unlock new abilities slumbering within your sword and traverse the ruin in unexpected ways. Use them to solve puzzles, overcome rooms filled with obstacles and outsmart enemies in battle.
Unlock new abilities slumbering within your sword and traverse the ruin in unexpected ways. Use them to solve puzzles, overcome rooms filled with obstacles and outsmart enemies in battle.
Unlock new abilities slumbering within your sword and traverse the ruin in unexpected ways. Use them to solve puzzles, overcome rooms filled with obstacles and outsmart enemies in battle.
This disk contains the following:
Challenging timing-based combat
4 forgotten sections in the ruin
2 unlockable sword abilities
A 30-minute adventure
This disk contains the following:
Challenging timing-based combat
4 forgotten sections in the ruin
2 unlockable sword abilities
A 30-minute adventure
This disk contains the following:
Challenging timing-based combat
4 forgotten sections in the ruin
2 unlockable sword abilities
A 30-minute adventure
Gallery
Gallery
Highlights
Highlights
Complexe enemy state machine with dynamic attack patterns.
Complexe enemy state machine
with dynamic attack patterns.
Decipherable cryptic language.
Decipherable cryptic language.
PS1-inspired artstyle.
PS1-inspired artstyle.
Precise parry mechanic that rewards learning enemy attacks.
Precise parry mechanic that rewards
learning enemy attacks.
Find abilities which deepens movement and combat.
Find abilities which deepens movement
and combat.
Exploration rewards optional power-ups.
Hand-made 3D models and textures.
Hand-made 3D models and textures.
Development Journey
Development Journey
Development Journey
My roles throughout developement: Gameplay Developer, Level Designer, 3D & Texture Artist
The Idea /
The Idea /
Hikos Dream was designed to be my final project for my Bachelor of Science. The idea for this game started in spring 2023 as I was starting to learn how to develop video games. I wanted to combine the dungeon design of the Zelda franchise with the combat and difficulty of the Dark Souls franchise. The problem was that I couldn’t program such a game with the knowledge and skills I had at the time. For this reason, I designed the game Hiko, which would be a small-scale version of the idea.
Two years later, I finally have the skills to turn my idea into reality. The combat in Hikos Dream was inspired by Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice in which the player needs to time inputs to parry enemy attacks. I wanted to do something similar because I love combat systems built around parrying, which I sadly see not too often. Over the course of the game the player is able to learn two abilities: a sword throw with which the player can activate buttons, use the sword as a bridge and sling enemies around; and a sword dive which launches the player in the air. The abilities are unlocked in typical Zelda fashion, each found in different sections of the map which further enhance the exploration potential. As a final challenge, the player needs to confront a boss that puts their skill to the test, needing all abilities to pass it.
Hikos Dream was designed to be my final project for my Bachelor of Science. The idea for this game started in spring 2023 as I was starting to learn how to develop video games. I wanted to combine the dungeon design of the Zelda franchise with the combat and difficulty of the Dark Souls franchise. The problem was that I couldn’t program such a game with the knowledge and skills I had at the time. For this reason, I designed the game Hiko, which would be a small-scale version of the idea.
Two years later, I finally have the skills to turn my idea into reality. The combat in Hikos Dream was inspired by Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice in which the player needs to time inputs to parry enemy attacks. I wanted to do something similar because I love combat systems built around parrying, which I sadly see not too often. Over the course of the game the player is able to learn two abilities: a sword throw with which the player can activate buttons, use the sword as a bridge and sling enemies around; and a sword dive which launches the player in the air. The abilities are unlocked in typical Zelda fashion, each found in different sections of the map which further enhance the exploration potential. As a final challenge, the player needs to confront a boss that puts their skill to the test, needing all abilities to pass it.
Hikos Dream was designed to be my final project for my Bachelor of Science. The idea for this game started in spring 2023 as I was starting to learn how to develop video games. I wanted to combine the dungeon design of the Zelda franchise with the combat and difficulty of the Dark Souls franchise. The problem was that I couldn’t program such a game with the knowledge and skills I had at the time. For this reason, I designed the game Hiko, which would be a small-scale version of the idea.
Two years later, I finally have the skills to turn my idea into reality. The combat in Hikos Dream was inspired by Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice in which the player needs to time inputs to parry enemy attacks. I wanted to do something similar because I love combat systems built around parrying, which I sadly see not too often. Over the course of the game the player is able to learn two abilities: a sword throw with which the player can activate buttons, use the sword as a bridge and sling enemies around; and a sword dive which launches the player in the air. The abilities are unlocked in typical Zelda fashion, each found in different sections of the map which further enhance the exploration potential. As a final challenge, the player needs to confront a boss that puts their skill to the test, needing all abilities to pass it.
Key Moments /
Key Moments /
One key moment in developing Hikos Dream was the implementation of the enemy AI. Enemies use a state machine to determine which action they should perform next. They adapt based on your combat style, playing more aggressively if you too defensive and vice versa. Additionally, enemies play more defensively if their low on health to save their life. This ensures that the player is always on their toes and doesn’t fall into a repetitive fighting style. If a player fights a group of enemies, they will adapt and stagger their attacks to adjust for the increased difficulty while still giving the player a fair chance to fight back. The complexity of the enemy AI increases over the duration of the game, changing attack patterns and learning new moves like carrying a shield and using it as a defense. Players need to constantly adapt to new strategies and use their ever-growing arsenal to fight back.
Challenges & Solutions /
Challenges & Solutions /
The biggest challenge working on Hikos Dream was building the project as a solo developer. I was responsible for designing the game, programming its code, creating assets, and implementing third-party ones. Building the map from scratch proved to be the hardest task, especially since I need to build multiple large areas under a given time limit. This time period in the development drained a lot of my motivation to continue the development, especially because I never modeled levels at this scale in 3D space before. Overcoming this task required breaking down the modeling process into smaller, manageable pieces. Starting simple with blocking out each section before adding detail helped me a lot and sped up the playtesting phase. This allowed me to prioritize gameplay and readability before committing to a level layout. Building a map in this scale taught me the importance of managing your time and resources effectively, and how important taking breaks are.
The biggest challenge working on Hikos Dream was building the project as a solo developer. I was responsible for designing the game, programming its code, creating assets, and implementing third-party ones. Building the map from scratch proved to be the hardest task, especially since I need to build multiple large areas under a given time limit. This time period in the development drained a lot of my motivation to continue the development, especially because I never modeled levels at this scale in 3D space before. Overcoming this task required breaking down the modeling process into smaller, manageable pieces. Starting simple with blocking out each section before adding detail helped me a lot and sped up the playtesting phase. This allowed me to prioritize gameplay and readability before committing to a level layout. Building a map in this scale taught me the importance of managing your time and resources effectively, and how important taking breaks are.
The biggest challenge working on Hikos Dream was building the project as a solo developer. I was responsible for designing the game, programming its code, creating assets, and implementing third-party ones. Building the map from scratch proved to be the hardest task, especially since I need to build multiple large areas under a given time limit. This time period in the development drained a lot of my motivation to continue the development, especially because I never modeled levels at this scale in 3D space before. Overcoming this task required breaking down the modeling process into smaller, manageable pieces. Starting simple with blocking out each section before adding detail helped me a lot and sped up the playtesting phase. This allowed me to prioritize gameplay and readability before committing to a level layout. Building a map in this scale taught me the importance of managing your time and resources effectively, and how important taking breaks are.