Castle
key
jumper
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Project Status: Completed
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Project Type: Personal
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Project Duration: 5 weeks
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Software Used: Stencyl
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Languages Used: Java Code Blocks
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Primary Role(s): Designer / Scripter
About castle key jumper
Castle Key Jumper is a game that was made as a prototype for one of my classes during my first year studying Game Development. The genre given was platformer and this game was made to prototype my ideas on making a traditional platformer with a twist on the jumping mechanics. The game was made using Stencyl and code blocks. This game gave me good insight and understanding of what it takes to make a good platformer and its puzzles.
gameplay mechanics
Spike jump mechanic
The spike jump mechanic was designed to add interesting puzzles and challenges to the game as well as some verticality:
The spike jump mechanic was inspired by a game that a close friend of mine had about a platformer with a trampoline platform as well as the cartoon effect in a Loony Tunes cartoons where whenever a character is hit with something sharp on their backside, they would launch up. I also considered that this would be an interesting way to build levels around and introduce crazy, quirky and challenging puzzles within the game.
The inclusion of the spike jump mechanic also helped me narrow down a mechanic that I wanted to focus on when building my platformer which in this case was adding a twist to the regular player jumping mechanics. The spike jumps mechanic works like this, whenever a player hits the point of the spike they would be sent flying in the opposite direction. Hitting the spike would cause the player to lose some health but it helps players gain height to solve a puzzle when they have to. So it's a trade of losing their health to solve a puzzle and progress.
Giving the players the ability to climb walls and grab onto walls is a great way to have players explore and journey throughout the levels. The idea of giving the basic climb a bit hard to control gives player a sense of how inexperience the character of Ori actually was and giving Ori an upgrade in its wall grabbing ability shows the growth that the character and the player has experienced throughout the game.
platform behaviour
Moving platforms in Castle Key Jumper adds challenge of players having to time their spike jumps:
I wanted to add a way to make players think and really pay attention to their actions when solving puzzles and platforming in Castle Key Jumper. During one of the playtest for Castle Key Jumper, a playtester gave me an idea of introducing moving platforms as part of the puzzles. The moving platforms that launch the players into a spike jump were brilliant as it helped add more depth to the puzzle mechanics in the game but also gave me a way to make players pay attention when jumping in the game.
The moving platforms have spikes attached to it and would launch players straight up into a spike jump when players collided with it. This platforms made me have the freedom to make more open and less crowded levels were player have to rely on and time their jumps using the moving platforms to pass the level. If they were off in their timing, they would either be hurt or have to restart the level again.
Double jump
Players can perform double jumps by double-tapping the spacebar to reach high places:
The inclusion of the double-jumping action for the player to use was to solve an issue of having to make the levels a little smaller and also a little restrictive due to the fact original with only a single jump, players were not able to jump as high and get to platforms at all even with using the spike jumps. The double jumping mechanic was one of the hardest things that I had to program in Stencyl as Stencyl's provides plenty of challenges when checking for player double jumping.
With the double-jumping mechanic in Castle Key Jumper, I was able to make levels much bigger and much more interesting and far-reaching platforming puzzles as now the players are able to reach and solve said puzzles. The double-jumping mechanic also helps with player survivability as now players can time their double jumps to avoid falling into traps that could cause them to lose health and have to restart the game again.