Hello, IndieDB community!
Welcome to the introduction of our new platform videogame Swing to the Top!
Our protagonist is a little monkey that wants his food, so he will Jump and Swing up through branches and vines of trees of the jungle taking bananas on his way, but with the objective of take the bananas of the top of the trees.
Our main inspiration is Jump King. So we worked under the main concept of making a game that runs vertically, always going up, with individual static screens for each section.
The jump as a mechanic is also inspired by this game, because the longer you hold the jump, the further you will go, so you have to control it because if you miss a jump you can fall and go back a lot, reaching previous levels.
Image 1: Jump in Jump King.
However sooner rather than later we have to distance ourselves from this reference and make our own game. For this we are going to focus on the swing.
The concept of swing through the vines is the same as in other games with this mechanic. If you get to a vine you will hold on to it until you jump again, if you jump when the vine has low momentum you will jump close, but if you swing going left to right and jump when the vine has a lot of momentum then you will go far.
Image 2: Swing in Lester the Unlikely.
The objective of this mechanic is that, unlike the jump that is vertical, it is horizontal, so you will move better on this axis around the stage. But just like with the jump, you have to control the exact momentum with which you jump off the vine, so you don't get too close or too far.
In addition to these mechanics there will be unstable platforms that will put pressure on the higher levels to make decisions faster.
Image 3: Unstable Platform in Super Mario Bros 3.
As for the art we have decided to go for a cartoon style with more vivid colors. But we will talk more about this section later.
Image 4: First concept art of the game.
We have spent the first weeks of development thinking about the mechanics, prototyping them and doing the first studies of the art of the game.
Our main goal is first and foremost to make a fun game. So we will strive to meet this goal.
Have a nice week!
Burning Crusaders Studio
