Download Page - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1932570/Jaded/
ShellSnore Games - https://shellsnore.com/
Overview
Jaded is a linear 2D side-scrolling platformer game developed in Unity. My team launched a free early access version on Steam in April 2022, and published the final version in January 2025, reaching 180,000+ players.
Team
I co-founded ShellSnore Games with my childhood friend Connor. When he moved away from my town in third grade, we kept in touch online, and began to make games using the educational programming language Scratch. Over time, we developed a strong collaborative bond.
By the start of the 2020 quarantine, we had learned Unity and committed to building Jaded as our first professional-quality title. Recognizing the need for more specialized talent, I brought on two more collaborators in 2021: Jenna for character design and Sam for additional music composition. Expanding the team let us scale our vision without compromising quality.
As the project manager, animator, and sound designer for this project, I oversaw both the creative direction and production pipeline.
Project Coordination
Using Notion, I designed and maintained a centralized workspace containing a master task list, production schedule, and priority tracker. I documented bugs, delegated tasks, and scheduled regular team meeting to ensure alignment. I adjusted our timelines proactively to account for changes in scope or unforeseen circumstances.
(Screenshot taken 9/15/24)
Cutscene Workflow Optimization
I introduced a color-coded cutscene checklist system to monitor each stage of implementation, with each “DONE” box representing ~20 hours of collaborative work.
(continues downward for 37 cutscenes)
Connor and I applied the design thinking process to level and mechanic creation, running rapid iterations based on direct user feedback during our early access period.
When we made changes, we kept a detailed archive of previous design decisions using Notion, ensuring we had a clear record to reference later on.
(a combat testing notes page from our notion)
Here are some initial concept sketches compared with the final implementations:
Water Block Mechanic
Initial Sketch
Final Version
Beach Level
Initial Sketch
Final Version
I personally drew and animated all of the game's pixel assets, with the exception of the portrait art contributed by Jenna, totaling 2,870 hours in Aseprite.
Altogether, my work consists of…
23 unique background layers
15 different ground types x 57 tile variations for a total of 855 unique tile sprites
Animations for 25 enemies
Menu and Textbox UI Art
Character animations for every line of dialogue for 37 cutscenes
476 unique environment decals
Environments
Animations
Prim (Main Character)
Stosian Soldiers
Enemies
Quarry Animation Loop
While I collaborated with Sam to compose the soundtrack, I have personally created all 769 sound effects, using a combination of recording, sampling from free libraries, and resampling.
For audio production, Sam and I rely on Logic Pro. Our composition process involves both synchronous and asynchronous work, where we trade back and forth ideas to reach the final track. Ultimately, I handle the final mixing and refinement of the tracks so they loop seamlessly and are bounced in the proper format.
Together, we’ve composed 32 songs in total for the full release of the game. Here's just a few of them:
Ascent
Forest Floor
Lab
Inferno
Now that Jaded is live on Steam, we're focusing on fixing post-release bugs, adding controller support, and have ideas for potential content updates that might release.