A screenshot from Dorrian’s game Custodeum. The mop janitor—one of the four characters the user controls— is in combat with a “lunch slime.” Photo used with permission by Declan Dorrian.

Math and Science Academy student Declan Dorrian’s senior project features his individually developed video game.

Dorrian’s lifetime love of computer science inspired him to center his project around game development. 

Created using Unity—a popular game engine—Dorrian spent over 100 hours developing his game called “Custodeum,” a combination of the words custodian and colosseum. The game revolves around a complex combat style inspired by the popular strategy game “Fire Emblem.”

Players are janitors who fight evil messes who have taken over Ocean Lakes. The map area the janitors play in is an accurate recreation of the school. 

”I liked that there were several different aspects of the game I could work on so I never got bored. I could switch from coding to art or from art to sound design and so forth,” Dorrian said.

Following a survey, 80% of players enjoyed the game. 

“I don’t plan on going into game design in the future, but I do plan on taking it up as a hobby,” Dorrian said.