MOTIVATION
Everfall was created for a week-long game jam at S&T with the theme "falling". It was my first attempt at a fully-fledged platformer. I had previously found that platformers could be deceptively difficult to program, so I wanted to break the ice on it. The atmosphere and feel of the game are inspired by my love of the dark fantasy genre, and my goal was to immerse players into the world of the game.
GAME CONCEPT
The player is trapped in the "Everfall", an ancient labyrinth tower that stretches infinitely unto itself. The player collects crystals to open portals deeper into the Everfall, in hopes of finding the exit. While avoiding or killing enemies the player traverses each level by falling down the tower section and scouting for crystals, once they reach the "bottom" they'll find themselves at the top again, where they can plan their route accordingly.
GAMPLAY CLIP
AVAILABLE TO PLAY
DEVELOPMENT
Tech: Unity C#
Role: Solo Project
TAKEAWAYS
Feedback for the look and atmosphere of the game was positive, but some players had gripes with the slow-paced gameplay. I can appreciate this complaint as when I set out to make Everfall, I had a "thematic" picture of what I wanted the game to be, but I hadn't really asked myself how fun the central mechanic would be. Going forward I've always made it a point in the conceptual stages of a game to ensure that the core mechanic/loop is engaging and something players will find satisfying. I did learn techniques to program a good platforming character controller that I could take with me on future projects.
