Hey hey!

Welcome back again to our project! This week, we've been prototyping some more and we'll tell you all about it!

Wait, weren't we going into Production phase?

Yes, however, we weren't quite happy with our level yet. At the moment, we made a level where we could showcase our mechanics, but the level itself wasn't interesting nor did it have a nice layout. This is something we wanted to change of course. As at the time we couldn't know if the game would be fun at all. So, we spent a good while each coming up with some fun level layouts!

So,  about that Level Layout

Our levels will have one main path (yellow) that most of you will probably follow, as it will be set up in a logical and enjoyable way. Along your stroll you will have to apply some movement knowledge and mechanical skill to progress further and finally beat the level.

Some of you like to get very good at the movement and enjoy the adrenaline rush of speed and keeping momentum. For you lovely people there will be a fastest path (orange) to fly through the level. These paths will not be indicated and hinted at as much as the main path though, so you'll need to pitch in a little effort to find them at first.

And lastly for the explorers among you there will be alternate routes (blue) that don't necessarily progress you any further but do lead to new locations you haven't seen, and treasure you haven't even imagined yet either!

Units

Before we made the level we playtested a lot with our characters in smaller levels to look for the right units. How high our characters need to be and how high they can jump are things we need to decide so the levels are  consistent. We adjusted the gravity and other factors (like the strength to swing players, movement speed, jump strength ... ) so the game is fun to play. With these units written down we can make levels way faster than before. 

New !

We're also thrilled to introduce a new mechanic, wind tunnels! While standing in these you get pushed away by the harsh wind. This can give you quite some air time for clearing long jumps or dodging obstacles. Sometimes the wind will block access to a certain area. The wind will sometimes turn on and off in intervals, allowing you to make clever use of this to progress ;)

Next to that we also included one way platforms where you can jump through the bottom. These are the yellow platforms in the level above. We also added doors that need be activated by buttons to go through the level. 

Art

Last week, only 1 of our characters had a sprite animation. We wanted to make sure both players would feel special in testing the prototype, so we made player 2 character sprite animations! This guy is much bigger than the other character and has his own idle and running animation, no more silly faced cube! Ofcourse, these aren't the final designs yet, they are mainly tests for our artists to figure out how much time every animation would take. If you like their designs, not to worry! Their final designs won't be too far from what they are now.

Here's our bulky man, ready to help the other one out!

He's got his own running animation too!

We decided that having both an idle and a running animation for both, would be enough to estimate how much time we'd have to spend making these. Spoiler alert: It's going to take quite some time. 

So, next week we'll be in the production phase for real. What does that mean? We'll be splitting up tasks ; who tackles the characters, who the platforms, who the backgrounds, etc. 

See you next week!