COG: The Cycle of Growth

A roguelite 2D-platformer made with a group of 5

I was the Producer, Level Designer, and Assistant Programmer for this project.

My Role and What I Learned

COG: The Cycle of Growth is the most fun I've had making a game to date. The inspiration for this game is Johnny Upgrade, a game I used to love playing on Cool Math Games when I was in elementary and middle school. COG starts you out with only a few seconds before your player's battery runs out and you die and just enough time to grab 2 cogs (coins) which is just enough to buy the first battery upgrade that lets you collect 3 more cogs your next run. This cycle of getting a little further each run and being able to upgrade your character each time to improve makes for a very fun gameplay loop, that is also fairly accessible to all skill levels. 

 This core design however required me to create some very good levels that could account for the incremental progression the player would make with each run. I talk more in-depth about this in the "Level/Game Design" page in the "Skills" section of my website, and I encourage you to check it out! The bottom line however is this intentional design process lead to a really fun gameplay loop and an experience that was engaging for hardcore, casual, young and old gamers alike.  It even earned us really inspiring and positive feedback when demoing at GameMASON 2025 that was one of the most rewarding experiences of my Indie career.