Dash Everest and the Temple of the Serpent Staff

This game is an Epic Megajam 2023 Entry!

Foreword

This small game was made in under four days despite the original time of around a week given due to project direction adjustments, but I ended up sucking it up and doing this one on my own and I'm proud to say I pulled through happy with the end result. Thank you everyone who tries it out, and hope you enjoy! Best always, - Connor

Welcome to the jungle...

The year is 1959 and you are a young, world renown archaeologist by the name of Dash Everest, who has found himself in a remote South American Jungle in search of an ancient artifact known as the Serpent Staff. In search of the staff, you come across the ruins of Zenith, rumors of what used to be part of an ancient city; visited by beings not of this world. As you grow closer to your discovery, you realize there is more to the ruins than the bearings of its artifacts, and perhaps of interest to other beings that may indeed be not of this world. Will you find the Serpent Staff to uncover the secrets of the past and future?

Dare to venture...

• Elude various traps, and dire dangers that lie in your path.
• Venture into the ominous ruins of the Serpent Staff and uncover its secrets.
• Overcome treacherous peril! In this game, there are no checkpoints since I ran out of time. Oops. Suppose you'll have to embrace it.
• Experience a simple, but short adventure into the unknown with a twist near the end!

Controls and How to Play

The controls are listed simply inside of the game's main options menu which is very basic, but has the few essentials to secure an enjoyable experience. To access it, press the [Tab] key on your keyboard (gamepad is not supported in the menus at this time, but is with standard movement in game).

The objective of the game is simple, you are in search of the rumored "Serpent Staff", and object of great mystery and said to have ties to the future through the past. Your goal is to reach the chamber of the Serpent Kings acquire the staff by traversing through the treacherous ruins of The Zenith.

Note: Settings do not currently save, so just be aware of that.

Credits

Sound and Audio:

• Various Audio and custom SFX (such as nature ambiance) from https://freesound.org/
• Several audio sources were mixed using resources from freesound (as linked above) to create believable mixes for things such as traps, activations; etc.
• Music in Main Menu is a public domain south american song called Mi Noche Tris by Orquesta Max Dolin (Max Dolin's Orchestra).

Meshes and Assets:

• Various Custom models from Sketchfab: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/jeep-8dd9a0b3faa84aaa813431b44c716a6d#download , https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/sharp-wooden-beam-bloody-99095a95b5fc4365af91ee2... , https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/spear-1c074105edcd442ca0432c05f080505d , https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/chichen-itza-pyramid-3d-reconstruction-a07324983... , and some others.
• Tropical Jungle Pack for nature assets: https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/tropical-jungle-pack?sess...
• Modular Lost Ruins Kit for ruins assets: https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/modular-lost-ruins-kit

Game, Story, Level Design and Programming (Everything Else):

• Myself for everything else.