Hobby Horsing Simulator Xtreme

Intentionally designing a trashy aesthetic was a new but freeing experience for me. I tend to be fairly design-obsessed in other projects, so this was genuinely a useful exercise in letting go of that and leaning into bad decisions on purpose.

We built three levels, each with its own lighting, skybox, music and sound effects. Every level opens with a cinematic camera sequence and the levels themselves were built with a mix of ProBuilder and Unity Terrain, going from a skatepark setting to a volcanic landscape with lava and global particle effects.

All player models were made in Blender and come with walk and jump animations. Before starting a run, players choose one of three characters on a dedicated selection screen where the models rotate and the camera cycles between them. A player name entered there later shows up on the highscore list alongside the total completion time. The highscore list persists across sessions and keeps the top five results.

On the enemy side there are static hurdles, BMX opponents with individual patrol paths and speeds, a projectile turret and a tracking fireball (all self-modelled). The more elaborate ones have particle and sound effects attached: the projectile leaves behind an explosion and smoke on impact, the fireball has a trailing flame effect. Interactive level elements add a bit more variety, like a liquid surface that slows the player for a few seconds even after leaving it, hurdles that act as switches to unlock the next one and a moveable box that has to be pushed into position to clear an obstacle. Pickup items for speed and energy were also modelled in Blender and each have their own particles and sounds.

We built the HUD with custom graphics and it covers health, progress and energy. Players can pause at any time via Escape or the pause button and from there restart, toggle music or go back to the main menu.