Flipping Phantom
Personal project
2023 (Jam version) - Now
Flipping Phantom began life as my submission for Scream Jam 2023, where it placed 5th overall out of 485 entries. The core concept is a puzzle platformer where the player cannot jump, but can phase into the ground where gravity is reversed.
Level Creation Tools
One of my key focuses with Flipping Phantom is to make it easy to go from level concept, to testable level. To accomplish this, I take advantage of a number of Unity features. Scriptable Objects are used to store level data - such as the scene's name, world and level number, and number of collectibles - and generate the level list. The levels themselves use a combination of tilemaps to lay out the foreground and background of the level, and prefabs for enemies and objects within the level. I will continue to work on my tooling in order to get the level creation process easy to do without touching code.
Level Design Process and Introducing New Mechanics
While designing the levels for Flipping Phantom, I began by coming up with a concept I wanted to teach the player in each level. The first level was simply "Phase into the ground to fall upwards", while a later level was "Cracks in the background cause death", and another was "Time your phasing to avoid enemies". I then sketched out the basic concept of each level on graph paper to give myself an idea of where to start. Finally I began using the unity tools I have set up to construct the level, play test it, and make sure it is doable.
A tried and true concept that I use for introducing new mechanics is to introduce one main new mechanic in each 'world', and then show different variations on it within each level. In world two, I introduced a 'void' that inverts the players gravity while they are within it. I then used one level to show how it can be used like a trampoline if you fall on top of it. And another level to show how it can be used as a launcher if you phase up from under it. As I introduce more new mechanics, I can have more levels showcase different combinations of them.
Unlockable Levels and Extra Challenges
Another focus with this project was to create a player save and unlock system. As the player completes levels, I track information for what levels they have completed, what collectibles they have found, and what content they have unlocked in a serialized save state.
In order to vary the difficulty of the game, I have added optional pumpkins that the player can collect as an extra challenge in a level. These pumpkins can serve to fulfil multiple design purposes. They can teach the player a specific timing trick, appeal to completionists, and serve as a 'currency' for unlocking bonus levels and optional content.
