This was a project for my Game Design, Prototyping, and Production course. The assignment was to create a platforming game with at least 3 levels, 2 puzzles, and 1 boss. I am a big fan of platformers so I was really excited to work on this project. Even before it was officially assigned, as soon as I heard it mentioned at the start of the semester I started working on a 2D platformer character. Having solid movement controls for the main character is one of the most important things in a platformer, so I wanted that to be as polished as possible. The feedback we got was very positive, and many players said the character felt good to control, so I am happy that I spent so much time on this.
My team for this class consisted of me, another programmer, a sound person, and two artists. I did the main character movement, the star collection mechanics, the first level layout, and the boss battle. The other programmer did the layout for most of the second and third levels, the slime mechanics, and the falling obstacles. In designing the first level, I tried to guide the player to learn about all of their different movement options. The character can run, jump, and roll, which are conveyed through signposts at the very beginning. Everything after that is done wordlessly. After rolling under the ledge at the beginning and jumping up the steps, there is a large obvious hallway to the left and a small, easy-to-miss one to the right, which contains a star. If they go left first, the player will later walk above the path and see the star they missed. This way, I teach the player that stars are often hidden and they need to look carefully to find them. In playtesting, there was a good balance of people who spotted the star and people who missed it the first time, which is what I was going for. Another thing I wanted to teach the player is that they can roll in midair for a longer jump. There are several positions where this is suggested, but not explicitly stated, by having gaps that are just slightly too long for the player to clear with a normal jump. I wanted the player to figure out on their own that they could roll in midair so that they would feel smart for having discovered an emergent interaction between mechanics, and in practice, almost everyone figured this out and felt satisfied when they did.
