OriginsScintillation was the first group game project I worked on, starting with a relatively small six-person team of designers and programmers. Over time though, our efforts managed to attract the attention of five artists, who doubled our team size, and gave our game a visual boost.
Scintillation is reminiscent of 2D level-based auto-runners like Geometry Dash and BIT.TRIP RUNNER. The player only needs to use two buttons, but these buttons allow the player a lot of versatility. Fun Fact: Scintillation was actually the game's working title, but it was agreed upon that it might be difficult to spell for some users, so the decision was made to rename the game to error ID. However, I did not want a visitor to this site to see error ID on the front page and assume something bugged out, so I will continue to refer to the game as Scintillation for all intents and purposes. |
Two Buttons? No ProblemSince this was the first large-scale project everyone on the team was working on, we didn't want to make the mistake of going for something too ambitious, so we settled on a simple auto-runner. But we wanted to give the player full control of their movement and experience.
First, we made sure to allow players to use any two-button combinations they wanted: Left Click and Right Click, Jump and Shift, Controller A and B -- the list goes on. Whatever the player's first instinct is, it is likely to work. Once players find the scheme that suits them, the rest of the mechanics should come naturally. At the start, the two buttons are just meant for jumping and crouching, but the abilities available to the player quickly grow. Holding the jump button down while in the air slows the player's descent and allows them to glide for a short period of time. Conversely, holding the crouch button allows them to quickly drop to the ground to avoid incoming overhead obstacles. If the player is riding along an elevated platform, holding the crouch button will allow them to pass right through it as well. |
Crafting the Whole ExperienceAs neat as a game with just two buttons is, the game still requires a bit of extra oomph to really make it a polished and enjoyable experience -- something to allow it to meet my personal criteria of making people go, "Wow, that's awesome". Alongside the core mechanics, I also ended up working on the levels and, with my limited musical abilities, the soundtrack.
Having a single person working on both of these disciplines is atypical, but results in some pretty cool moments if done right. My personal favorite is when I managed to line up the drop in the first level's song with the point in the level where the ground begins to rotate. |