In April of 2024, during the gap I took after the end of my studies and graduating internship, I decided to embark once more in a game jam contest. This time joining the ScoreSpace Jam #29, I took on this new challenge by myself and prepared for the 3 day event.
In the ScoreSpace jam, the event takes place in two phases : the jam part, where developer teams craft their games according to the theme given at the start, and the streamer part where players play the winning games live and compete for the highest score. As such, games submitted to the jam were expected to have a score system implemented, as well as a repeatable gameplay where players could chase for the optimal method.
As the game jam officially began, the theme "Escape" was the one given to all the participants. One of the first ideas I came up with that theme was "escaping hell". As I explored this concept, I quickly connected it to ancient Greek mythology, with Orpheus going to hell and back, but also to "Inferno" by Dante. With these two main ideas, I came up with the idea of a character running through hell and trying to make it out despite the monsters that may inhabit it.
Given the theme "Escape", I decided to keep the platformer medium that I had experimented with in Disobey Protocol and design a game around going as fast as possible through a level, and choosing between speed, collecting points, and fighting monsters. By giving each option to the player with varying reward, I hoped to incentivize the players to experiment and find out which way of making it to the end suited their style best.
To challenge myself a bit more, I decided to attempt making a boss fight. Having never had the opportunity to make one before, I was a bit lost as to where to begin making a boss, but having a guardian at the end of the level was simply too perfect for the game I had now in mind.
In the end, the game has four sections :
-an introductory section, where the player gets to become more familiar with the controls, terrain, and monsters;
-a monster section, where they must navigate between or fight through many monsters in different situations;
-a parkour section, with fewer enemies but where traversing the level is more challenging;
-and finally the boss section.
The boss fight in itself has three phases. In the first, the player must repeatedly bait the boss's hands down to damage them while they are vulnerable on the ground until each side head lowers and can be damaged as well. Once both sides have been defeated, the main head calls for the second phase where enemies get summoned all over the field. The player must then eliminate all the spawned monsters to trigger the last phase, where the main head lowers and can get destroyed.
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