About "ChronoSariel"

Who am I?

I am Zachary McKnight or as my internet pen name "ChronoSariel," I am a game developer and 2d artist who has developed a strong appreciation for the games released in the mid to late 90's and early to mid 2000's. 

What Do I Do?

I mostly specialize in traditional art, pixel art and programming with the #C language in Unity, though I have dabbled in bits of Python, Java, Unreal Engine, Maya, Blender, Photoshop, and BoostersLab (Cave Story Modding Tool.) 

Why Am I Here?

The reason why I had gotten into game development in the first place was due to my exposure to retro games when I was a kid, mostly the GameBoy Pokémon games alongside the Genesis Sonic the Hedgehog games, and Chrono Trigger. I had been always fascinated by how such unique and wonderful experiences could be produced on such limited hardware. What further influenced my interest in the game design process was my playthroughs of Pokémon: White Version, Pokémon: X Version, and the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series when I was going through a particularly rough time in my childhood. It was these games that helped me cope with many of the issues I had faced during that time, and because of that I had developed a desire to create something that could resonate with people in the same way these games had with me.

What Games Do I Like?

My favorite games include, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky, Pokémon: X/Y Version, Pokémon: Red/Green Version, Pokémon: Crystal Version, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 5, Final Fantasy 6, Cave Story, Mother 1, Mother 2 (EarthBound,) Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Touhou: Highly Responsive to Prayers, and Brandish 2: The Planet Buster (PC-98.)

My all-time favorites have to be Chrono Trigger and Cave Story, two absolutely excellent games that fundamentally shaped the way I both understand and design games. If you haven't played them, you really should, both are easily accessible, the former has plenty of ports (my go to is the DS port) and the latter is still freeware to this very day!

Where Can I Contact You?

Email: ChronoSariel1997@gmail.com - Your best means of getting in contact with me outside of social media.

BlueSky: chronosariel.bsky.social - This is where I post art semi-frequently, along with fragments of the Cave Story mod I had been working on. 

I also have a Twitter account, but that site is a bit of a wreck, so I don't advise going there for your own sake...

Samples of My Work!

Cylinder 3d Blast: https://chronosariel.itch.io/cylblast

A very short isometric platformer inspired by Sonic 3d Blast, all of the scripting, level design, and primitive visuals were done by me for my Minigame project.

Amount of people on the team: 1

Development time: 2 Weeks

Unnamed Racing Game: https://chronosariel.itch.io/unnamed-racing-game

A two-player arcade racing game inspired by games like F-Zero and Super Mario Kart where to win you must collect as many coins as possible while sabotaging your opponent by bumping into them and using a variety of power-ups. I was the sole programmer, UI designer, level designer, and project manager for the game. This project was designed for my Arcade Game project that my college had hosted where it was made playable on an arcade machine on campus!

Amount of people on the team: 2

Development time: 2 Weeks

Cataclysmic Dream: 

A short-lived Cave Story mod I had started working on as a side project mostly to learn how to use BoostersLab, this mod features a custom title screen, player sprites, level design, and dialogue all done by me.

RBY CAP - Sprites:

Three custom Fakémon I had designed and sprited for Smogon's Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow: Create a Pokémon metagame. The first one Frosquito ultimately went unused due to coming second in the sprite vote, while the latter two Sparophim and Spariel ended up getting used and can actually be used in-game!

Frosquito: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/gen-1-rby-cap-feature-complete.3737699/pos...

Sparophim: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/gen-1-rby-cap-feature-complete.3737699/pos...

Spariel: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/gen-1-rby-cap-feature-complete.3737699/pos...