A Proof of Concept

I’ve been an existential mess since the impacts of Coronavirus have settled in, and was spiraling to a very dark and emotional place. For a while, I was able to get by playing a number of games that had come and gone in the last handful of years that I had missed, and I coped my way through most of April reasonably well.

For whatever reason, things quickly started going downhill. Games I had been able to rely on for years simply were not fun anymore. I couldn’t speedrun Mario 64, I was struggling to play my placements in Overwatch, and every game I tried I simply just couldn’t get into. Without games, on top of the lack of sports and society, I really did not have a semi-healthy vice to channel through.

While this descent was occurring, I became more and more enthralled reading about Toby Fox and his development process for Undertale. As simply designed as the game was, its message really resonated with me, and I couldn’t believe it had been made by 1 person in GameMaker in a reasonable amount of time. We have a similar background and education, and the more I understood about the game’s construction, the more the idea of trying consumed me.

I took the plunge on a Monday afternoon at the end of April and thought what the hell, it’ll give me something to do. I have done application programming professionally for several years, and taught object oriented programming at college, but had never worked on a game in any way. I had a one month trial, and I thought that would give me enough time to legitimately attempt to see if I could do this.

After a week or so of tutorials, things started to really click. Within two weeks, there were very few things from a functional perspective I wasn’t able to accomplish. The coding itself became creative, I enjoyed finding solutions to what I wanted to implement. There were times I legitimately felt this game was designing itself. I felt fulfilled and energized in a way I hadn’t in months.

I blew past my original goals, and today, with hours left on my trial license, I feel I have put together something resembling a complete experience. Not a full game, and not necessarily a demo of the game I would ultimately like to make. But a proof of concept for an outline of something bigger. I think it truly has promise, but I am blinded by my own bias. I need you to tell me if I’m on to something or whether this should remain a pleasant side hobby.

I wanted this game to be simple, and based on a few core principles I think this Proof of Concept gets across reasonably well. To summarize, I wanted this game to have:

• The platforming accuracy of Celeste, while not simply being a platforming gauntlet. I wanted this game to first and foremost be about fun and rewarding movement principles, but still be a story driven experience
• The exploration of a Metroidvania ala Hollow Knight / Super Metroid. A world to explore connecting a number of levels and hubs. This is one of the concepts that I think struggles the most to show in this POC simply due to lack of time. In a full game, it would be a central basis
• The knowledge as power mechanic most exemplified by Outer Wilds. I want there to be a number of major areas that interact and expand on one another while still being independent experiences. Each place would provide clues as to how to access more information and content

There are aspects I was not able to show mostly due to the time constraint I set myself, such as building out a few characters with depth and impact. I also would have liked to spend more time working on nuanced art strategies, but for now I am getting by completely on free materials. Besides the $5 I spent on real MP3s, I have invested nothing other than time and effort in this.

With that in mind, if you think this sounds of interest to you, I would ask you try this experience out and keep the following central questions in mind:

1. Could this gameplay and design style conceptually carry a full game?
2. Is the game well-paced? The first two levels serve as conceptual introductions, and the last several I believe are truly challenging. However, I have been playing this for a month and can no longer be an impartial judge
3. Do the music choices fit the scenario they are accompanying?
4. Are any of the hints too obvious? Too abstract?
5. What do you think of this game???

If you’ve read my spiel, you have already done more than I could ever reasonably ask for.

I’m asking for your help. I really hope it ends up being an enjoyable experience for you.  

Full Game walkthrough in glorious 480p: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o_BtMgkonw

1.1 Update: Arrow key movement added in addition to WASD