-  THE ENGINEER -

THE PLAYER

-  MOTHER SLUDGE -

ENEMY

-  CHARACTER SCALE -

VISUALS MOODBOARD

CONTROLS & MECHANICS

Mechanics

• Launch left hand, upon impact, works as a grapple.

• Launch right hand, upon impact, works as a swing.

• Ground pound on the sludge to clean it.

• Movement mode changes if on water or regular pool tiles.

Systems 

• The pool surface has little friction, and can only move forward (rotate the body with A & D).

• Higher friction on water, can move in all directions, and jump higher.

• Ground pounding reduces XYZ momentum to zero, and if airborne, the character dashes downwards.

• Health (3 Hearts), take 1 heart of damage from hitting sludge.

LEVEL DESIGN

MODELS & FINAL SHADER PASS

GAMEPLAY & FINAL UI

LEVEL DESIGN PROGRESS

FINAL LOGO

FINAL LEVEL & GAMEPLAY

FINAL REFLECTION

• Design: Starting on this project, I knew I would run into a lot of problems related to physics due to the nature of the mechanics being intertwined with it. And even from the first few weeks, I proved myself right. I ran into a lot of issues that made me fall behind my classmates, as they required a lot of tweaking. Especially with the swing using physics constraints and the falling speed, making the game, which is all about speed, lose its "momentum". Thankfully, I was able to fix these issues by pivoting to giving up the code that was already there and finding other ways to replicate my idea using force and velocity.

• Scope: Honestly, when it comes to scope, I think that though I might have overstimated certain things (like thinking I could get someone else to animate my characters or that I could add a lot of sounds), I was able to overall beat my expectations for how much I would be able to complete. I think because I was my own boss, and after the professor told me what I should focus on, I simplified the mechanics and focused on working on them as much as possible, making a game that I feel, of course, uses existing ideas, but I think stands out against the other platformers I have worked on.

• Planning: When it came to planning, that is something I think I should have worked on harder this quarter. Though, to some level, I think I planned the steps I would take well because I didn't take into account having a few off days where I just couldn't work on it. I ended up not working nearly as much on audio as I thought I would.

• Execution/Testing: Not a lot to say except that it was what I expected. Due to the difficult nature of physics-based mechanics, I would spend hours tweaking small numbers to their decimals, seeing which one felt better or was less buggy while keeping in mind that anything that disrupted the momentum in-game could be a death sentence to the player experience.

• Support: When it came to support, I think that I actually had to figure a lot out myself, unlike previous projects, since most other system designers avoid physics-based mechanics like the plague. I won't say I didn't get support, though, as my friend Samuel made the theme music for my game, and I have another friend working on the animations for the characters and enemies, so I may add it to the game in the future.

• Communication: Overall positive & useful responses when it came to testing, while some of the ideas I already had of what to improve were suggested, there were a few that I wish to implement in the future to further improve my game. Though the biggest feedback I received is that apparently the sensitivity on my mouse is horrid...

• Learning: I think this project was a very nice learning opportunity as I had to learn more things on my own without the help of someone who could directly point me towards what needed to be done. It also taught me that sometimes we have off days, but that doesn't make me any less of a passionate game designer than anyone else