Swinging Is Hard

I love the game my team and I are coming up with. I see a lot of potential with it, but it is going to take a lot of work. The work load is already difficult. Building a simple prototype of the game and its mechanics is a challenge. Especially implementing a good swinging mechanic. I have tried a few different approaches to building a good hookshot and each one has fallen short of what I consider a decent working mechanic. I am going to keep tweaking around with my best implementation, maybe I'll find the right balance there. I might have to scratch this current iteration and start over.

I know things are only going to get harder. It is a good thing I am having fun.

TimeJump

We picked our pitches and I am happy to be on the team I'm with. The game is timejump and it is basically a 2D puzzle/platformer with a robot. Honestly, it was hard to stop thinking about my old pitch. But I am really falling in love with the ideas and possibilities we have with this game.

I have been working on getting some of the platformer mechanics down. That is what I am going to continue to work on over this weekend. We want to have a prototype up and running soon. I got a lot of work and learning ahead of me, but it is going to be fun.

Pitching

Last week all the students, including me, pitched game ideas to the rest of the class.  We had a lot of good ideas and it was challenging to narrow down the list to 10 games (starting with about 30). Hopefully we all picked right and can get working on them soon. This is going to be fun.

I want to share my game idea with this blog.

My game is, possibly, titled Shycrow. Basically you play a scarecrow and explore the world. What makes this game interesting is how you move in the world. You balance on your pole and hop around, kind of like a pogo stick. That's it. Honestly I don't know much else to say about the game idea, besides how you die. Once you lose your balance and fall on the ground you cannot get back up.

It'd be a 2D side scroller because it would be the easiest to implement and polish. There would be some platforming just to keep the movement challenging. Maybe you could put some puzzle aspects, maybe...

Taking an artistic approach to this game makes it more interesting. Things like having no start menu and making the world dynamic and interactive. The game would start with Shycrow stuck to his fence, the wind blowing through the crops and trees. Crows flying around. Eventually you would try to move or push something. When you did Shycrow would move a little. After you learn that you are playing, you would try to break off the fence. Once you got free you'd began to learn to move in this game. Learn to balance. Once you got this down, you'd began to explore the world. Hopefully, you'd have become attached to Shycrow and feel motivated to take him exploring. One last thing, I love the idea of perma-death. Once you fall you have to restart the game. This makes Shycrow's exploration more dramatic.