Devlog #5 - Why Did You Make a One-Button Platformer? (or: SpecialEffect are the Bestest)
Hi gang! Today I’m going to talk about my motivations for making the game a one-button platformer. I’ve certainly been asked this question a few times and hopefully this devlog will give you a good insight as to why I’ve gone with this control scheme.
First things first; this has been the design goal for the game from the very beginning when I was first prototyping it and isn’t something that came about by accident. Although the game changed form somewhat during that prototyping phase, having only a single button input was always a core tenet of the game’s design.
Design Challenge
I kind of wanted to flex my design muscles a little with this project and work out how I could make a game that still had lots of fun platforming mechanics with just a single button. As I’ve hopefully demonstrated with previous blog entries, it turns out there’s a lot of gameplay to be had with this setup!
Each mechanic I designed had to work with this in mind. The vast majority of bubble powerups act as augments to Bubbles’ jump ability - whether it’s additional jump power, infinite vertical travel or switching dimensions. The hardest bubble powerup in this respect was the Launcher bubble - this is the one that lets you launch Bubbles at high speed in a specified direction.
Let's take a look at how this evolved over time:
Earliest designs for this actually had the Launcher make use of arrow keys / left stick, but I changed this because it felt so awkward having just one mechanic make use of directional input, especially one that appears relatively late in the game.
I then had this operate on a eight-directional carousel, which seemed to fix the problem - but if you missed a direction, the wait for the carousel to get back to where you wanted it to be would be interminable. Speeding it up to try and resolve the issue just meant it was easy to make input errors and go flying off in the wrong direction - very frustrating! How do you fix that?
Well, the solution turned out to be preserving the carousel system, slowing down the direction changes slightly, but only having them work in three directions. This didn’t actually change any of the gameplay I wanted to achieve from it such as using your momentum and re-entering a bubble to weave through hazards and it also simplified level design as I had much more control over where the player would likely go.
Accessibility
As a little bit of a preface/plug (hey, it’s relevant), I do a charity gaming marathon stream with some friends over the Easter holidays at GamingForOthers for the utterly brilliant SpecialEffect. Collaborating with them has been fantastic and I’ve learned a lot from them.
As a brief summary to the work SpecialEffect do, they are a charity that provides support for gamers with disabilities that prevent them from being able to use standard game controllers effectively - usually by creating bespoke controllers and setups that are tuned for each person’s needs.
However, SpecialEffect also work with the games industry to promote the inclusion of more accessibility options and controls as part of the game’s design. In addition to the single button controls, I have additional accessibility options in the form of Boosts that I’ll be covering in more detail in a future devlog.
This also has the upside of younger players or people who are normally intimidated by platform games being able to more easily enjoy the game! (For any hardcore players who might be worrying about the game being too easy, don’t worry - I very much have you covered too; that's also coming in a future devlog!).
I will be looking for Team Cats & Bears to support several SpecialEffect initiatives such as One Special Day and GameBlast.
Buttoned-Up
I wanted to make sure that the reaction I got from people playing the game was ‘Huh, I didn’t even realise I was missing extra buttons’. The one area I couldn’t really do with a single button was the menus - whilst I could technically have had something like a carousel that you stop with the input button, I think this would have been utterly nauseating to use in practice, so I did make an exception for that! Can you think of any ways to make a functioning UI with a diverse set of options and a single button only?
As ever, thank you for reading. If you enjoy these insights into the game’s development, please consider following and wishlisting the game to see more of them. You can also follow the game's development on Twitter, where I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have about the game or game development in general.
Until next time!
Johnny
Team Cats & Bears
Devlog #4 - Content Complete!
Just a quick update this time around - but the good news is that I’ve finished work on what I anticipate will be the last level in the game. The game is now content complete; I’ve got all the stuff in there that I would consider a minimum for releasing.
I can reveal that the game now has 125 levels which - depending on how you play - will occupy you for up to 8-12 hours, subject to skill level and how much of a completionist you are... and this is before adding new game modes that I hope will mix the gameplay up; in short, there's a lot for players to do!
Note that this doesn’t mean I’m done yet! There’s polishing to do, more features I’d like to add and tweaks to those levels I’d like to make before launching the game. Once I have a solid release date, I'll be sure to share it with you - following Team Cats & Bears on Twitter and wishlisting the game will not only allow you to keep up with this news, but will also really help the game's development out.
These relentlessly chase you through a level and absolutely will not stop, ever - well, at least until you beat the level.
These add a time pressure to your actions, requiring much more rapid decision making. Levels featuring these are often designed to have obstacles blocking your way that will slow you down and expert/brave players can optimise their movements around these to get to bonus areas with more food!
Ghost Slimes
Haunted by their limited movement, these slimes will slowly move towards the living if they draw near and then relentlessly pursue their target if they get too close.
Luckily, it’s possible to confuse these slimes by hopping in a Ghoster bubble.
These create interesting new zones of danger for the player and the ability to lure them away produces some pretty interesting new play space - there's one level in particular that you can finish extremely quickly with skillful baiting...
Speed Pads
Hitting these will either greatly increase or decrease Bubbles’ speed, depending on which direction these are entered from. Whilst not a hazard in and of themselves, they’ll throw off any unprepared players who may go flying at top speed into some spikes or lasers.
This can really mix up the platforming as you’ll need to adapt on the fly to changes to how much further Bubbles can now jump or use powerups to mitigate moving slowly.
Oily Walls
These also aren’t directly hazardous, but Bubbles can’t cling on to these walls and will immediately begin sliding on touching them. This requires quick reflexes (kind of a theme of World 4 overall) and more precise timing to climb walls and dodge hazards.
Charge Lasers
In light of how difficult it is to remove cat hair, certain parts of the Neon City have anti-cat alarm systems that will fire a fuzz-removing laser at Bubbles. Once the alarm has been triggered and a target lock has been found, Bubbles has about a second to leap away from the laser!
Triggering multiple alarms will trigger consecutive lasers, greatly increasing the difficulty of a level for clumsy cats (or those willing to take on the additional risk for more cat food).
Spike Balls
These spike balls appear in the fifth world of the game. These balls will either be inert or will follow a fixed rail, requiring careful judgement and timing to make it past.
World 5 generally has a slightly slower, more pensive pace and these hazards are ideal for more complex hazard placements than could be achieved with normal spikes.
Hazards Clear!
Annnd there you have it! I hope you enjoyed this look into Bubbles and some of the goals I wanted to achieve with these level hazards. If you like this sort of thing, I'm making these about once every two weeks and you can keep up to date with them by following and wishlisting the game!
You can also follow the game's development on Twitter, where I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have about the game or game development in general.
Until next time!
Johnny
Team Cats & Bears
Devlog #2 - Hazard Mechanics
Happy New Year all! Here’s hoping that 2019 is a great one for you. I’m very excited to be bringing you Bubbles the Cat in a few months time!
Continuing a little in theme off the previous blog post, I thought I’d start taking a look at the different hazards Bubbles will encounter and what I hope they will bring to the table in terms of level design. I’m going to split this one into two parts as there's quite a lot to cover!
Bubbles, Meet Hazard
I try to introduce hazards in a similar way throughout the game: your first encounter will be in a relatively safe environment and in isolation of any other mechanics. You will be able to see the hazard clearly before you have to deal with it and these will be placed at the start of the level - so in the event you do fail, you've lost only a couple of seconds of progress.
Undoubtedly the ur-platformer game hazard; these are one of the first hazards the player will encounter and practically an expectation at this point - they’re also universally recognisable and there’s no confusion as to what they do. These gently ease in the concept that there are things that will need to be avoided to continue the game!
Spikes from an early World 1 level...
These exist as a basic and static failure point for not completing a certain jump or executing a mechanic correctly - later levels (in particular World X) have reduced margins of error, requiring accurate platforming.
...and spikes in one of the later (optional!) World X levels!
Fireballs
These toasty terrors are fired from launchers and are also encountered within the first world of the game and are again chosen in this order because it’s fairly widely understood that fire = hot and should be avoided!
I really enjoy making cool patterns with these and it feels great as a player to weave through these. There’s also some neat interactions here with powerups like the Waller bubble, which you can use to shield yourself against incoming fireballs with good timing!
Slimes
These rather cross looking jellies are no doubt furious that their existence is confined purely to moving either horizontally along the floor or vertically when stuck to a wall. One assumes they’re quietly annoyed at Bubbles for having the ability to leap around freely, but we may never know for sure - either way, it’s best not to touch them.
You can either platform around them or - in the case of the Blaster powerup - platform through them. They also interact with other level elements, triggering traps or even being used as a means to demonstrate other mechanics safely!
Timed Spikes
These are like regular spikes, except they have a keen sense of punctuality and will raise and lower in fixed intervals. Bubbles will need to bounce in time to these hazards to get through the level safely.
Timed spikes are about the closest the game gets to becoming a rhythm game, with players needing to use good timing to hop between safe surfaces.
Lasers
Bzzzt! Lasers can either be static or move along a fixed rail. These appear in Worlds 2 and 4 as I’m not sure how thematically appropriate these would be in, say, a spooky wood.
I feel like these are kind of the natural adversary of a cat’s agility and wanted to create that tense sensation you get when you’re able to weave your way through a laser grid. There’s also some cool timing-based platforming here; check this out!
To be continued!
I hope you’ve enjoyed a quick look at some of the hazards that you’ll encounter as you play Bubbles the Cat! In the next update, I’ll reveal the rest of them - until then, thank you for reading and if you want to keep up on the game’s development before launch, I’d recommend following and wishlisting the game!
You can also follow the game's development on Twitter, where I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have about the game or game development in general.
Until next time!
Johnny
Team Cats & Bears
Devlog #1 - Powerups and Flow (and GIFs!)
Hey folks,
In the first dev log post before launch, I figured I would use this as an opportunity to share with you all the progress on the game as it stands so far as well as show off new features as and when they're added.
Run, Bubbles, Run!
Bubbles the Cat is a single button platformer. This means that Bubbles runs automatically to the left and right, changing directions on hitting or jumping from a wall. The single button allows you to jump, and pressing it whilst in mid-air will create a magic bubble (common noun) for Bubbles (proper noun) to bounce off.
(Quick sidenote to say that the perils of naming a game's character after the primary mechanic produces some highly troublesome sentences...)
By default, the standard bubble allows the player to jump up to six additional times in mid-air! Touching the floor will instantly replenish the player's stock of bubbles. Between this and gripping to walls and sliding down, the player has quite a few control options already available to them - all with a single button.
You Have the Power
Still, the game would get stale if these were all of the moves you had at your disposal, no matter how varied I made the hazards. Luckily, there are six different powerups that change up the gameplay:
BLASTER This greatly improves the power of Bubbles' jump, but watch out that you don't hit any spikes above you! This also destroys weak walls in a level and can blow up enemies.
WALLER Not got a wall to turn around? No problem - just make one! Jumping on this creates a wall in front of Bubbles and grants access up vertical shafts lined with spikes. It also breaks your fall if you're about to land on something hazardous!
BOBBER Vast chasm ahead of you? Unevenly placed hazards you can't jump through? The Bobber allows Bubbles to traverse horizontally indefinitely (at least, until hitting a wall) and with some carefully timed bobs, you can make it through otherwise deadly mazes of spikes.
GHOSTER Sometimes, there's just no way past a barrage of fireballs or lasers. This is where the Ghoster comes in - allowing Bubbles the ability to pass through these dangers, floating up until Bubbles leaps out or hits the ceiling. Later stages require good timing to leap between hazards!
LAUNCHER This bubble launches you at blistering speed in one of three directions on hitting the action button: the direction you're facing, diagonal up and straight up, cycling between these.
A cool trick you can do with this powerup is to hit the action button again, breaking the bubble early. This preserves your momentum and will be useful in finding secret areas for that bonus cat food!
SWITCHER With this final powerup, each time you jump you'll switch between two dimensions, creating new platforms or walls to jump off. Just make sure you don't switch dimension whilst inside a phased-out block!
Flow State
I used to be a big fan of the 16-bit Sonic games back in the day and I wanted to recreate the satisfying feeling of flow you experience when you get comfortable with the game's physics and nail a perfect line through a stage.
To help with this, I've placed food in such a way as to hint where a player should go and when they should jump - in later levels, these become more sparse as I expect players to find their own solutions to the level!
In addition, the placement should help players quickly acclimatise to a powerup they've picked up without having to stop the game to explain this or use an extraneous UI element; a row of cat food on a sharp incline reminds the player that their jump is way more potent now!
Normal jump food line... ...vs Blaster jump food line!
This is something I want to get into the game as a whole - my hope is that the control system is simple enough that I'll need minimal tutorials to begin with and can have most of the other gameplay mechanics be learned just through level design and building on patterns that the player will (hopefully!) have learned from prior levels!
Thanks for reading to the end! If you're interested to learn more about how the game's development is going, why not follow and wishlist the game?
You can also follow the game's development on Twitter, where I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have about the game or game development in general.
