First time participation.

Going with unity (C#), gimp, blender.

While my SO toils away creating some pretty pictures I am stuck with these blocks and blobs. Two button platformer (wall jumping is involved).

http://drteaspoon.itch.io/ludum-dare-34-bubble

First time participating the Jam. So far so good :3

This was my first time trying my hand in platformer. The whole ordeal was bit strange with the two button setup I had in mind. At first the whole thing seemed obvious: Use simple state system to determine what the buttons do. So if player holds right and then presses left the character should be set to “jumping right”.

I had massive plans for layers upon layers of “states” to create combinations of attacks and special moves and destroy what ever enemies I could hassle together. While working on level pieces that I could quickly use and possibly later use for a level generator, all the testing for player movement was so much fun that I decided to focus on that. I was so confident in my movement system that I didn’t expect the thing that was obvious. Almost no one else could get used to the controls. My bias as the author towards the control scheme eluded me until well after the jam.

The facial expression thing was fun to work on. When my lovely artist handed over the last pieces of the game graphics I was enamoured how the whole thing started to flesh out. Before then I was only working with green cube. I had no clue what the thematic setting of the game was going to be. And when I finally pieced together the code for swapping player face for few seconds randomly in random intervals the whole game gave different feeling. It had actual charisma. Especially when sometimes the facial expression managed to change just the right time, your brain just decided to connect the events on the screen to the player expressions.

So today I sat down and thought “f**k it, lets fix this s**t”. So today I’ve worked to create complete tutorial level with helpful in-game guides to aid in difficult spots. I also reworked most of the movement system to allow player lot more control. Now the control scheme should be more intuitive. When you want to jump you will always press two buttons. This change will let player prepare for the action. This has the draw back of forcing player to be quicker with TWO buttons to execute fast movements but I think it was necessary change.

What went right?

• Created something I enjoy playing.
• Graphics style. Nailed it!
• Finished something. *sweeps old projects somewhere where no-one can find them.*
• Stuck to the theme.
• Facial expression system for main character.

What went wrong?

• Author bias on difficulty
• Author bias on control scheme.
• Should have made map editor/generator.
• Time management. I could have done so much more!

What I learned?

• To make a platformer.
• How you don’t have to create complex system for a character in-order to make it feel alive.
• Learning through play is important. No one wants to read when there is game to be played.
• When creating map, make sure you design the geometry with the art in mind. Art is not the afterthought.

Please try the new version by clicking the image above. The new version has more death/score lines.