(the edge of) Skeleton Edge

Our next assignment for Game Design is to make our own 2D platformer level! (big surprise, I know). I drew up a nifty paper map:

as well as a neater Illustrator map:

What is the conflict?

• Jim Tibia, resident of the Skeleton Territory, journeys to rescue his family and prevail against the usurper Gargamillion, who plans to use a skeleton army to conquer the galaxy. On the way, Frank collects coins to eventually bail his father and brothers out of the army.

What is the twist?

• Jim is a skeleton
• Gargamillion IS YOUR FATHER (gasp)
• Also sometimes if you jump off a cliff you'll run into an enemy skeleton

Where is it?

• The edge of Skeleton Territory, where very few skeletons call home.

What time of year is it?

• There are no seasons in Skeleton Territory, but by human terms it would be a balmy day in March.

What time of day is it?

• Midnight. There is no other time in the realm of the skeletons. Only the darkest of nights.

Who else lives here?

• Skeletons and their minions, the Skele-hound and Skelecrow. All submit to the will of the almighty leader Gargamillion, otherwise known as King George.

What does their architecture look like?

• A mixture of Gothic architecture and piles of rubble.

What happened in the environment prior to the player getting there?

•  King George recruited all those living in Skeleton Edge, minus the truly weak ones. This included your skeleton father and siblings. In return, he left behind a few guards in a pitiful attempt to enforce martial law (not that Gargamillion actually cares about the Skeleton Edge, but pretenses are important)

How did the player arrive to the environment? What brought them there?

• Jim Tibia has always lived in a small house in Skeleton Edge, but the pursuit of the recruiters brings him to the edge of the district. 

The Impossible Game: Analysis

For my first blog post of Junior Year, I am analysing the first level of "The Impossible Game," a 2D sidescrolling platformer for Xbox/iPhone/Android game designed by FlukeDuke. It's an unforgiving game; even one mistake sends the player back the start of the level. However, I feel the level set up does a good job of preparing the player for what's to come.

Unfortunately, it's difficult to record myself playing an iPhone game, but I did find a good video of a guy playing it:

This first level is technically the "tutorial" level, but it does not hold your hand in the slightest. Any instructions on how to play the game (tapping/holding the screen/button) are only given to the player if they choose to read the "How to Play" portion of the menu. When starting the level, the game starts with a quiet period of the player traveling along the ground platform, then gradually introduces the main obstacles and gameplay elements: spikes, blocks, and pits. The player is expected to make a large amount of mistakes getting used to the gameplay elements; their failures are marked as "attempts".

Spikes are the main obstacle in The Impossible Game. The tutorial level starts off by giving you one at a time to jump, like here:

As the game goes on, the player is expected to jump more spikes, from two:

to four:

as well as many combinations inbetween. The larger number of spikes, the more precise the timing needed to jump over that. The first level does a good job of increasing the difficulty level of these (for example, the first set of triple spikes doesn't appear until the second third of the level).

Another important gameplay element introduced early are the blocks and pit. Like the spikes, the blocks are introduced slowly, from a very simple setup in the first few seconds of the level:

The player is expected to mess up the first few times to figure out that running into the block and hitting the solid black is an instant game over. Once the first pit is mastered, the intensity of the block jumping sections are increased, from adding spikes for the player to jump over, to varying the spacing of the blocks so the player has to figure out whether to jump or let the block fall.

For example, in the above screenshot, the player has to jump from the first block to the second, let the square fall to the third, then jump again. 

Overall, the game constantly keeps the player challenged by constantly increasing the difficulty and throwing new twists at them. A player could be expecting to pass an obstacle one way, but realize all too late that their timing is off. Having to restart over and over can get boring, but it also compels the player to get farther and farther into the level. Positive feedback comes in the form of being able to keep listening to the cool music; negative feedback is dying and getting sent back to the beginning.

Here is my level layout (as a warning, it's a little big, and comes in three parts):