MOTIVATION
Free Bomber was made in a week-long S&T game jam for the theme "explosions". For this game I wanted to use what I learned from Everfall and make a more robust platforming experience. Using a physics interaction as the main mechanic gave me new programming challenges to overcome, and the free-style nature of the mechanic taught me new things about player tendencies.
GAME CONCEPT
In Free Bomber you play as a slime with a sticky bomb launcher, using remote-detonation explosions to launch yourself to solve platforming challenges. In each level you'll need to navigate deadly pits and spike traps. As you progress, you'll get upgrades to your launcher so that you can have more bombs out at the same time. It's up to you how you'll utilize the power of explosions to reach the end!
GAMEPLAY CLIP
AVAILABLE TO PLAY
DEVELOPMENT
Tech: Unity C#
Role: Solo Project
TAKEAWAYS
In addition to learning more about programming physics and platforming interactions, this project helped me understand the importance of playtesting. Once I had a playable build and a few levels I had people try the game out and their feedback was invaluable. The freeform bomb mechanic meant that some players grasped the game rather quickly while others struggled to perform some of the easier jumps. I implemented contextual guides to help players with bomb placements and tuned down the overall difficulty to alleviate some of these concerns. I also added a speedrun timer due to player demand that can be activated after beating the game (replay value!).
