Tappy Tappy Boneyard - autorun combat platformer

Tappy Tappy Boneyard is an arcade combat platformer being developed for desktop and mobile web browsers. "Bird Tapper" automatically moves forward, and can jump, punch and dive. The core of the gameplay is using these abilities to defeat enemies and reach the end of each short level. The extra challenge is figuring out clever ways to take out enemies in succession, earning combo points.

Alpha gameplay

Gameplay goals

All of my earlier development projects were simple action platformer games, and I wasn't happy with how any of them turned out. It's been almost three years since my last attempt, so here I am giving it another shot! Even if it seems simple with only a few features, this game concept is more ambitious and demanding than anything I've attempted before. Thankfully, I think what I've got right now has potential.

Technical goals

My last project was for a two-week gamejam. It happened to be my first release programmed in Javascript and using the Phaser 3 game framework, having previously used Haxe & Haxeflixel. The result was a game with a spaghetti pile of code, mostly coupled in one class. We had planned a post-release update to help the game reach it's potential, but I had programmed myself into a corner that prevented any extension.

Since then, I've been learning about software architecture and programming the "right" way. Robert Nystrom's Game Programming Patterns has been an amazing resource that's completely changed how I think about code. A project of this scope needs greater attention to code organization / architecture. I frequently fall into my old habits, but this game's code is an significant improvement for me. Much of that improvement is because I moved from Javascript to Typescript early on.

I'm striving for device & input compatibility, supporting mobile devices and gamepad input. JS & Phaser 3 gives me a lot of freedom in this regard. I'm adding a layer of technical complexity because of my stubbornness to have the resolution adapt to any device's screen, despite the likelihood that most players will be playing in a fixed window on desktop.

Development

This project is somewhat odd for me, because for the first time I had no involvement in coming up with the concept. Late last summer I was approached by two Newgrounds artists with completed sprites, music and a a handful of gameplay ideas. I started active development in late December, prototyping the vague concepts to see what stuck and where the potential engagement was.

The original concept and pixel art / animations are by ProsciuttoMan, with Music by Dry.

I'm starting this devlog in the middle of development. Weeks ago I reached the alpha milestone, with core gameplay in place and 9 levels to demonstrate. Since then I've been working towards beta, focusing on level design, polish and overall structure. I want to be done and move onto other projects... But there's so much work left to do!

Devlog

In the past, I would follow up each of my game releases with a postmortem blog reflecting on the process and what I had learnt. They were personal, more so for my own sake, but I also hoped that other novice game developers could learn from my mistakes.

I want to try something different, and make an ongoing devlog during the process. While in this introductary post I've been reflective for the sake of context, going forward I plan to dive deep into interesting, behind-the-scenes technical / design solutions.

More to follow! Feel free to ask questions at any time.