Otto the OTter

Download (or play in browser): https://vecderg.itch.io/ottotheotter 

Otto the Otter was made out of my love for swimming and my distaste for swimming in video games. There are a number of games that make swimming feel really good -- Starfy, the original Spyro trilogy, etc. However, I wanted to make a game that truly combined these two aspects, so I took influence from a New Super Mario Bros. Wii mechanic involving large floating bubbles. 

Otto the Otter is a character that can create bubbles of water using a specialized cannon, and has swimming physics that are as fluid as his ground physics. He can jump off walls, and use these bubbles to gain more height. This is mainly a proof of concept to play around with the base mechanics, but future levels are planned to have more interactions between the bubble and the level, like wind and electricity. I would also like to include narrative elements to explain why Otto has a water cannon, and to motivate the player to clear levels.

Most of the effort for this demo was put into the physics and the level design. As an avid platformer player, I made sure that Otto's physics felt intuitive to the player, and took feedback from multiple people into account when adjusting his parameters. The levels were designed and ordered to slowly introduce concepts to the player before challenging them. The first screen requires the player to jump, the second screen requires them to wall-jump, the third introduces the swimming mechanic, etc. Then, after the player is proven to have a handle on all the basic mechanics, they are given the water cannon as a new ability, since it adds complexity to the player controls. The levels afterward are meant to challenge the player in more unique ways, while introducing situations that are impossible without the water cannon.

Finished in less than a week as a solo project, with some QoL edits made later on.