C++/C# programmer
Developed in December 2015
Back when I was in highschool, I learned a few things about Unity and decided to put my skills to the test by writing a simple platformer.
I didn't want to focus on graphics, which is why nearly everything in this game is just a differently colored rectangle with a slightly darker outline.
Gameplay Video
The goal of the game is to simply get to the end, where a pink square with a little bow waits for you.
You get three lives, after which it's game over. You can get new lives by picking them up in the levels.
The main mechanic of the game came from a mistake. I tried to implement a simple jump, but I accidentally made the player able to jump when touching any wall as well as the floor. I thought it was fun to spam spacebar and launch yourself upward, so I kept it as a mechanic and based the entire game around it.
After implementing the basic platforming, I kept adding more and more mechanics with every few levels. These include platforms that don't allow you to jump, moving platforms, rotating platforms, buttons that open gates, simple enemies, platforms that can be jumped through from below, buttons that make platforms appear one by one, a ball around the player to change their movement, blocks that can push buttons when they fall, and saws that kill the player when they touch them.
Every few levels a new mechanic is introduced. This is always done as safe as possible so the player will understand the mechanic before they can die from it. It is impossible to pass the first level without using a wall to climb up, for example, but you also can't launch yourself out of the level because it is an enclosed space. Some mechanics like the instant death saws are more difficult to do this kind of onboarding with, which is why there is a little message in the level that points out what they are and that they are dangerous.
I learned a lot from doing this project at the time. I didn't have much experience with Unity and I never actually finished anything like a game before. This taught me that you can do a lot with just a few simple mechanics and it was the first time I tried to do any kind of level design.
Playing this game again after all these years (to make the above gameplay video) shows me how important it is to do playtesting. There are some really bad difficulty spikes and problems with the controls that make this game much too frustrating to play. I have also seen other people struggle with the platforming because it isn't clear to them that they can launch themselves rather than slowly climb up. I would love to revisit this project with these problems in mind.
The game has been released on itch.io and can be downloaded there.
Project tags: #C#, #Gameplay, #Highschool, #Released, #Unity
