Alejandro Garcia - Portfolio

A mockup of the title screen for Action Fish. I would've liked to add some more animation and visual effects to really tie the scene together. That, or replace it entirely. The title screen could serve to reflect more of the game's overall tone.

A sprite sheet containing some of the movement animation for the player character. A bit rough around the edges for sure, I didn't have much animation experience at the time. If I remade this, I'd definitely exaggerate his body proportions more, add more impact to his movement, and show through the way he moves that he's not very happy.

A beat I made for the game's soundtrack myself using Mixcraft. I used sampled sounds from the Nintendo Entertainment System system to create rolling wave sounds and the bass later in the short track

A closeup of the main character named Fish-Bo, or just Bo. He's sporting some funky white sneakers with blue and orange stripes.

ACTION FISH is an action platformer idea that began back in 2017 as my entry for Future Business Leaders of America's Computer Game and Simulation Programming competition. It's evolved plenty over time, and I like to revisit it here and there to reimagine the visuals to gauge how far along I've come. Most of the images on this page are from 2019 or so.

Back in 2017, the game was much rougher-looking, but it was my first real game project. Future Business Leaders of America had tons of competitions run throughout the year, and that particular year, the theme for their Computer Game and Simulation Programming contest was "Arcade Game". I was a sophomore in High School at the time, and my computer repair/game dev teacher Mr. Ence pushed Jacob and I to give it a shot. It had four levels, a soundtrack made by close friend Collin Thomas, was programmed by me and another friend Jacob Janes, and I did all the visuals and design.

We went on to place 2nd at the state level competition in Arizona, and were invited to attend the National FBLA competition in Anaheim, CA as well. We took the leap, and there we placed 11th. We had some incredible competition and looking back on our project now it was admittedly pretty rudimentary rough work, so I was never really upset about it. It was thrilling to say I placed 11th in a national high school level game development competition, and it's still a cherished memory to me. It's one of my life's events that has led me to where I am now, pursuing video game art as a career.

Many of my files for this game have been lost over the years, but I've done my best to gather some visuals and other content here.

I like to think that someday I'll revisit the game, remake it from the ground up as a new concept with funny characters and fun, intense gameplay. It might be about time to try reimagining it to see how far along I've come.

Screenshot from the second level of the game
TOP RIGHT: The objective is to defeat all of the invading bandits in each level. This counter keeps track for you
BOTTOM RIGHT: Here the player can see their current health and the currently equipped weapon

At the end of the game's 3 levels, the player faces off with the bandit leader atop a moving train. The boss has its own health bar and several different unique behaviors that the game randomly switches between to give the fight some variety

An illustration of Fish-Bo

A fake poster I made for the game

The trailer we made for ACTION FISH, also way back in 2017

My friend Jacob Janes and I way back in 2017 at the FBLA Arizona competition, happily about to present ACTION FISH for the first time