Lonely At The Bottom
For this project, I wanted to try and replicate the "rage game" formula that games like Getting Over It with Bennet Foddy or Only Up had but with a twist that makes the game more enjoyable: the mechanics are not unresponsive. The mechanics in those games are intentionally slow or janky, which causes the player to lose multiplate times. I wanted my game to be purely skill based and that players will lose purely based on their mistake.
I started the project by creating a one-page design document. This would outline the goals and vision of the game clearly on a single page.
This document features a summary, the story, the design pillars, design ideology, mechanics, and the demographic.
I then went onto begin development of the game in Unity. I started by creating various mechanics that I wanted to build the game around. This started with simple left-right movement, a jump, wall jumps, dash, and following camera (and I used tags to create a trampoline object). I also created a tag to put on certain walls that I didn't want the player to wall jump or slide off of to prevent cheating (as the player could just climb up the sides of the level to reach the top). Lastly, I programmed a coin collectible for the game, which could be used to toggle a secret ending if all of the coins were collected.
I then created a basic level as a prototype in order to showcase the mechanics and general level design ideations. The level would follow a natural difficulty progression, wherein the player is taught easier / simpler mechanics at the start and is given time to familarise with the moveset before being taught more advanced moves later on. Whenever a new move is expected of the player, the player is given a safe space to practice the move as well as a tutorial image shows the player what they are supposed to do.
I used a taskboard when creating this project as it helped me breakdown the game into smaller completion goals that would form the complete experience. This allowed me to keep track of what I had done and what I was yet to do in order to complete the game. I split the game into 3 categories: programming, design, and art. I would handle all of the programming and design for the protype of the game. Once the game is out of the prototype stage, 2D art can be made and implemented into the game, which I will work with an artist to implement.
