Playable browser demo
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Soundtrack (WIP)
Original Post
Hey! I would like to present my project that I'm planning to work on outside of my full-time job as a web developer. I've never completed a serious game project before, but I've dabbled in the area multiple times before. I've found that the best way for me to stay motivated through a project is to share my progress during the process, so here goes.
Swang (working title) is a one button precision platformer revolved around swing physics. It's built to be playable on mobile devices, but the concept works on any platform. The game is currently in an early prototyping phase with only wireframe graphics, but I would say that I've got the basic mechanics nailed down by this point. Please try it out and let me know if you find them fun on the limited number of rough levels that there are so far!
The structure of the game will be very simple with a lot of short, separate levels with no real story in-between. In addition to just completing a level, you will also have to collect a bonus star and finish the level within a certain time limit for 100% completion. The levels will most likely be split into different worlds that focus on a certain mechanic, and I'll explore if bosses are something that would work within this game. So the structure is very much like Super Meat Boy in that sense.
I am currently planning on building all aspects of the game by myself, which is certainly going to be a challenge! I'll do my best to focus on the strengths I already have within each area, as I'll briefly try to go over below.
CodeTo stick to my strengths programming language wise, I'm building the game using Cocos2d-JS. The library allows me to easily compile to iOS, Android, desktop platforms and web browsers. Looking at my skill set and the challenges I expect to run into building this game, the programming aspects are the one I am least worried about.
ArtWhat you see in the current demo are only wireframes, I have not yet decided on what kind of art style I want to go with. Having worked closely with designers and building frontends for different web products for a couple of years now, I feel like I know enough to pull off a clean and minimalistic art style. So that's most likely the style I will be going for, but I'll want to try doodling around a bit first to figure out if my drawing is good enough to carry a project like this.
MusicI've played the piano for 15 years, so I'm looking forward to apply what I've learnt from that into composing the soundtrack for the game. I haven't done much composing in the past, but I see this as an exciting venue for me to finally get into that. I very much appreciate songs with strong, catchy melodies, so that's the type of music I'll try to aim for in this game. I regularly listen to video game music while doing other things, as well as play some of them on the piano, so I should have a good base of inspiration for getting into this.
Update: Soundtrack playlist (work in progress):
https://soundcloud.com/joel-besada/sets/swang-soundtrackGame DesignGame design is the area where I have the least prior first hand experience, so I expect this to be very tough to get right for this game. I just hope my experience playing games and generally being interested in the subject will be enough to produce something decent. Being a very level design dependent game, I feel like I'm going to have to spend a lot of time researching and trying things out to figure out how to build fun levels.
Alright that's enough to kick this off. I'll be posting more here as I progress through the project.
You can find me on twitter at
@JoelBesada.
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