Fool's End is a 2D mining/platformer I created and released on Steam. It was made using GameMaker over the space of a year.
The game's design started with the simple principle: what if a whole game was made around the mattock mechanic in Spelunky?
Or more simply put, what if a 2D platformer game let you destroy everything with a pickaxe? What if everything in the environment (player, enemies, tiles) was affected the same way? If bomb damage hurts a player, it should also hurt the environment and/or enemies.
Or more simply put, what if a 2D platformer game let you destroy everything with a pickaxe? What if everything in the environment (player, enemies, tiles) was affected the same way? If bomb damage hurts a player, it should also hurt the environment and/or enemies.
CONCEPT
Before working on a prototype, I began the design process by establishing some simple rules for the tile types in the game. I also made sure to clarify early on which tile types were affected by gravity and which weren't.
Initial tile ideas included:
Dirt Rock: Most common tile. Destructible. Unaffected by gravity
Clay: Common tile. Destructible. Affected by gravity
Heavy Rock: Common tile. Destructible almost only by bombs (can also be destroyed in about
30+ pickaxe hits to destroy, designed to be a painful method). Unaffected by gravity
Bombs: Explosive tile which detonate when hit by pickaxe or impacted by other tile. Affected by gravity.
Water: Cannot be mined and slows player when landing in it. Affected by gravity.
Spikes: Kills player if player jumps or lands on top of it. Affected by gravity.
Bouncy Tiles: Bounces player up 4x higher than a regular jump. Affected by gravity.
Fire Shooters: Fire periodically shoots out horizontally from the tile. Unaffected by gravity.
Exit Door: The escape from each level. Walking over it will lead to escape. Affected by gravity.
Dirt Rock: Most common tile. Destructible. Unaffected by gravity
Clay: Common tile. Destructible. Affected by gravity
Heavy Rock: Common tile. Destructible almost only by bombs (can also be destroyed in about
30+ pickaxe hits to destroy, designed to be a painful method). Unaffected by gravity
Bombs: Explosive tile which detonate when hit by pickaxe or impacted by other tile. Affected by gravity.
Water: Cannot be mined and slows player when landing in it. Affected by gravity.
Spikes: Kills player if player jumps or lands on top of it. Affected by gravity.
Bouncy Tiles: Bounces player up 4x higher than a regular jump. Affected by gravity.
Fire Shooters: Fire periodically shoots out horizontally from the tile. Unaffected by gravity.
Exit Door: The escape from each level. Walking over it will lead to escape. Affected by gravity.
Early visual demonstration of gameplay
used in the initial Game Design Document.
PROTOTYPING
Very very (very) early prototype of the game that proved the concept for mining tiles and using enemies to break tiles.
Prototyping quickly told me that the clay tiles (inspired by gravel and sand from Minecraft) wasn't very fun. Prototyping also made me consider a way to force the player progress through the level without continuously mining forever. Taking a cue from Spelunky's time-up ghost mechanic, I created a lava dispenser at the top of each game level which drops lava constantly once the level's timer has ended. The game's timer is invisible to the player, but is communicated through a music pitch shift (it's hard to miss).
Prototyping viability of the lava mechanic (it must destroy everything).
After the prototype showed all my mechanical ideas working in harmony, I began taking the game to events to get wider feedback and ideas.
PRODUCTION
The next major change in gameplay came when someone asked me if I would add more weapons to the game. I ultimately did not want to add any new weapons, as the game concept evolves around the pickaxe. Instead, I brainstormed new ways the pickaxe could be used and came up with the idea of making it throwable and usable as a ranged weapon + ranged bomb trigger. But it came with some obvious follow-up questions, like what happens to the player after the pickaxe is thrown?
Ultimately I made the pickaxe a boolean. Either the player has it or they don't. When the player throws the axe, it remains on the ground where they throw it. And to align with my initial vision statement, when explosions contact the pickaxe it shoots up as if it's affected by the explosion.
Ultimately I made the pickaxe a boolean. Either the player has it or they don't. When the player throws the axe, it remains on the ground where they throw it. And to align with my initial vision statement, when explosions contact the pickaxe it shoots up as if it's affected by the explosion.
THE FINAL PRODUCT
The final game consists of 36 levels + 3 boss fights across 3 biomes with unique tile types in each.
For added value I decided to make a randomly generated Daily Challenge mode with Steam Leaderboard integration. I often tweak the balance of how often tiles/units spawn in the challenges, but that is a write up for another day.
I am also currently working on a custom level editor for the game which will soon be publicly available for Steam users to use and share levels. You can read more about the level editor here.
You can check out Fool's End on Steam below:
I am also currently working on a custom level editor for the game which will soon be publicly available for Steam users to use and share levels. You can read more about the level editor here.
You can check out Fool's End on Steam below: