The Death Ninja — Mohamed Hafez

The problem

A ninja platformer only works if it stays smooth. The client needed a game that ran without lag or dropped frames on everyday Android phones, not just the newest devices, since a laggy jump kills a platformer in its first level.

What I built

I built The Death Ninja in Unity: a side-scrolling platformer with multiple levels, coin and life counters, a boss fight, and a choice between two playable characters, Ninja Boy and Ninja Girl, each ending in their own win screen. The main menu leads into levels where the ninja hops across platforms and hazards, collecting coins and losing lives, before a final boss encounter. I optimised rendering and touch-input latency so movement stayed responsive on lower-end hardware, triaged crashes and ANRs reported after release, and handled Android App Bundle signing and a staged rollout through Google Play Console. The client published the finished game to Google Play under their own store listing; that listing is no longer available, because the client stopped maintaining it.

The Death Ninja main menu with Play, Options, and Quit over a moonlit silhouette — The main menu, set against the game’s recurring moonlit-rooftop art.

Platforming level with crates, a graveyard backdrop, coin counter, and life counter — A graveyard-themed platforming level, with coin and life counters tracked at the top of the screen.

Platforming level with vertical shafts and floating platforms — A later platforming level built around vertical shafts and floating platforms.

Boss encounter with the on-screen prompt 'Try To beat The Monster' — The final level ends in a boss encounter: "Try to beat the monster."

Options screen with a volume slider and a Ninja Boy or Ninja Girl character choice — Options cover volume and a choice between two playable characters, Ninja Boy or Ninja Girl.

Win screen reading 'You're winner!!!' with Play Again and Quit options — Beating the boss leads to a win screen and the option to play again.

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Tech stack

The game is built entirely in Unity, targeting Android, with releases signed and rolled out through Google Play Console.

Game: Unity: Game engine, rendering, and level logic
Android: Target platform
Google Play Console: App signing and staged rollout

What I learned

Smooth input on cheap hardware matters more to players than any single feature.

Optimising for lower-end Android devices taught me that responsiveness is a feature in itself, not a polish pass layered on top of the game design after the fact.