After 4 months of working on a game that would need at least another year, I decided to start a new project due to time constraints. It was a tough decision, but I’ve learned a lot and was able to use many elements from the previous game.

Player Movement

For example, I previously spent two weeks making sure the main character felt good to control. It was a bit crazy since I spent hours each day just watching this character and its animations. When does the body stretch? When does it squash? How long should it all take, especially in combination with the jump height?

I moved the character around in a level with no background or other elements until it felt right to me. This included fine-tuning the acceleration and speed. I wanted to avoid any unexpected behavior, like the main character failing to jump upon landing even when the jump button was pressed. Initially, this happened often because if the player pressed the jump button just before landing, the jump wouldn’t trigger since the main character hadn’t yet touched the ground. I allowed the player to jump just slightly before landing to solve this.

Coyote Time

When jumping off the edge of a platform, I implemented “coyote time,” a term I was unfamiliar with until then. Inspired by the cartoon series Road Runner, where the coyote often runs off cliffs and hangs in the air for a few seconds before falling, I implemented something similar in the game. If the player runs off the end of a platform, they can still jump for a very short time during the fall, even though the platform is no longer being touched. This is meant to assist the player and improve their experience.

A small animation signaling that you are at the edge of the platform, of course, could not be missing.

These and other things were already completed and ready to be implemented in the new game.