This is a scene from our 3rd level in the Dare to be Digital build. It's also our 3rd level in the full release, and yet, in the full game the 3rd level is actually the dare build's 2nd and 3rd level stitched together, and we've added in another stage between our first level and this one. Useful information to know? Not at all, confusing as hell? Probably, but just a vaguely amusing note. That's what I thought at least but I'm half deranged after 12 hours days at 6 days a week for 2 years so what do I know? More about Unity than when I started if you must ask. But you didn't, so let's just continue.
Long story short you might not get the full impression from the image as we can't capture the full area, but this puzzle actually works out identically in both versions of our game. In the D2BD version it was our favourite visual area in the entire demo, and oddly enough I think the general consensus is certainly the same for the full game. The improvements include but at not necessarily limited to:
- No longer having a chain that has no justification at all as to where it's coming from.
- No longer highly saturated floating islands in the background that you think might be platforms
- At least 372% more mech.
One thing that I do miss from our Dare build is the teleporter mechanic. If you look slightly to the left of our little guy on the right half of the image (the Dare build) you'll see some kind of cog contraption with yellow lines coming out of it. This was an item that if interacted with would teleport you to a matching paired teleporter (you can see it just below). It was used for a few puzzles, but generally it was our design methodology for giving the player the option to get out when they were stuck. It ended up being a bit odd to have a mechanic that only existed for failing, and probably a sign of bad design, so we scrapped it. Most of what it achieved could be done with what we call ghost platforms, which you can jump through the bottom of but not go back down through. A remnant of the teleporters kind of got absorbed into our checkpoint system (which you can use to teleport around the map in the full game).
I do still really miss the visuals and the sound for them, the player would deconstruct into little squares and kind of "de-rez" and be built back up upon returning, it was super cool, you'll just have to take my word (or far too many words) for it. One thing I always note when looking back at this build also, is how rapidly the floating platforms in the background bob. If they are indeed as large as the image is meant to give the impression of (very large and very far away) then the rate at which they are descending and ascending would be terrifying. As a brief thought experiment (because this is definitely how I make the best use of my time at work) I thought I would roughly calculate how fast they are moving.
- I had always imagined them roughly 2km or so across, fairly large sky islands.
- In width they probably occupy 6 in game metres visually. Meaning we can attribute each gameplay metre to be about 333 world metres.
- The islands bob up and down by 2 metres every 2 seconds, with a flat bezier curve at each end meaning over that time it's travelling over half a kilometre, going from a full stop to full speed to full stop again. Over this time it will reach a peak speed of more than 700 mph with an acceleration/deceleration of more than twice that per second.
- Whilst not well versed in the area, I am fairly sure that at this speed any character ill fated enough to reside on one of these islands would pass out instantly.
- All in all this leaves me with a fairly distinct feeling of guilt for whatever entity we have doomed to such an existence. Luckily we tamed it down in the finished build and the denizens of these islands should no longer be leading a life of constant comatose/torment.
For a long time the mech used in the puzzle was meant to be a precursor to a fully built one that would be used later in the level, but it took a long time to get together due to other areas of the game taking priority. The general story of the 3rd level (what we call 2-1 as it's the first level of the second generation) is meant to be present through a lot of abandoned machinery littered throughout the region, this mech was a first sign of that.
We did eventually get the fully built mech in, but the hunger then came to make some kind of Rocket Knight esque mech platforming scene, as deadlines drew closer however it became heart breakingly apparent that wasn't ever even slightly going to happen. With the closing weeks however we did manage to make something of it, a small bonus that we're fairly happy with, but it's a secret, so I shan't say.
I'm sure there's a lot more I could say about all the small little details involved in this scene and the plethora of development stories that come out of them, but for the sake of anyone reading at this point, I shall stop there.
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