Level 1 Completed

I just finished building the first level for this game and it has been a surprisingly long process. I have been working on this every day for about 3 weeks, starting as soon as the kids are asleep and going until usually 1 am.

        This journey began about a month ago when I finished a youtube tutorial on making a Flappy Bird clone. I asked my wife to take a look and while she was testing it out my 2 year old saw and obviously wanted to participate. I let him try, and he liked it! It was only one button (space to flap), the only problem was he couldn't get farther than one or two pipes because he would either press the button too fast or not enough. This resulted in me constantly refreshing the game and not much satisfaction on my son's part.

        So, I decided I would make a game for him! It would actually be my first non tutorial game. My thought process was it needed to be a game that was simple, with one button. Space would be a good choice as it is huge and right at the bottom of the keyboard. I also wanted to limit the negative feedback he received (dying) as he doesn't really know how to play games yet. I finally decided on making a cross between Flappy Bird and Mario.

        First I made a level with coins, some ground level and some jump height, added some background music, a score counter and a few floating platforms. My boy seemed to enjoy it, but would not stay engaged that long. So, I added an obstacle that he had to jump over or the character would just run into it and stop. I also added a variety of character skins so he could have a little variet (this turned out to be a huge hit).

     While my son was playing that build, I got to work on the next version. I decided to upgrade the environment from a plane with some foliage & rocks to terrain. This was a huge upgrade in visuals, but took some learning. I also added in sound effects for running, jumping/landing and coin collecting.

     For the latest version I added double jumping, camera changes at the beginning/end of the level, level complete animations/sounds and some post processing for the camera. I also changed up the level from being a very basic, repeating pattern to be more varied, interesting and slightly challenging. The challenges however, will always have to be solved by a jump or two as 2 year-olds can get frustrated pretty fast. After adding in some decorative elements, version 0.4 is ready to go! I am excited to start working on the next levels as I have the mechanics in a place I want them and lots of ideas for different levels!

        One thing that has been very interesting throughout this process is having an inhouse testing team (my son). I really enjoy seeing how he interacts with my game, seeing what draws him in and taking note of when he gets bored. I have also learned that I needed to focus on what HE wanted out of the game and not what I thought would be cool to implement. I originally had all sorts of ideas for different mechanics, different "modes" for the levels, adding enemies, hazards and pitfalls, but quickly realized that is not a good fit for the game I am making and its purpose. I hope to post more often as I make updates, as this was 3 or 4 versions worth of updates condensed into one rambling post.