Ventrocadia - PARSONS DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY 2025

Zenon

Game Designer

Hey! I'm Zenon.

Ever since I was in 2nd grade, I knew I was going to be a game maker when I grew up. I always loved playing games no matter where I was, turning every place into a playground. I've also had an ongoing love of recounting things that mean a lot to me, which eventually got me into story writing in games, so I can share my thoughts and experiences in a way that others can experience and connect with directly.

Over the years, I've worked on little projects here and there spanning across different engines, such as Game Maker, Scratch, Unity, and Godot, and even experiences created off of existing games, such as a level made in Mega Man Maker or a mod I worked on for Cave Story. Now, these past three years of DT's Game Design branch has been the true test of my skills, finally honing them into a real thing and making games until it all culminated into this final game: Ventrocadia.

I've loved making this game and have many more ideas for it moving forward, so I truly hope that I can keep working on this game after I graduate and to not only finish it, but also to continue making these kinds of games, things I love making that also seem to make others happy. I know I may be too much of a dreamer here, but I still believe that I can have fun making games, even if I lose sight of that fun at times, and I hope that fun carries on to the players, no matter how many they may be.

All I can know for sure is that I need to keep face every day with even the smallest of smiles, knowing that the best is yet to come.

Socially Engaged

Thesis Faculty

Ventrocadia’s top-view, showing the player walking down a path with a building to the left and bricks to the right.

Ventrocadia’s side-view, showing the player now standing next to the building, with it towering over them.

Imagine playing a game where you can explore a dreamlike world and being able to truly understand that world of illusion, seeing things from all angles. Well, now you need to imagine no longer!

Huh? That’s an overused, cliché tagline?

Oh.

Well. My game, Ventrocadia, is exactly that. A little exploration/puzzle game where you explore one world in two different perspectives and meet quirky little characters along the way. Using the P-Change (perspective change) ability, you not only get to see the world from another point of view and understand what you’re seeing better by getting a pseudo-3 Dimensional look at it, you also get to use different game controls, which may help you overcome obstacles that you normally couldn’t.

For example, in the game photos I’ve provided to the left here, the player sees a building standing in front of them. From the starting view of top-down, all they can really do is look at the building or try going inside. However, once they press the B button, making the character take off the sunglasses and now seeing things from a side-scroller view, they can now jump on top of the awning and go onto the roof, allowing them to grab the shirt that is hanging to dry.

This is just one example of what Ventrocadia’s mechanic can do, so I hope you come by and give the game a try to see what else is has in store! As for those who are reading this after the show is over, I hope you give my game a try on its itch page or on physical hardware, if I get to selling that.