Devlog 1: Getting Started

When setting out to make a new PC and mobile I initially struggled with coming up with an idea. So I decided to look at what games drove my interest into entering the games industry and take concepts from these to make a game. The games I picked were Run 3, Geometry Dash and Jetpack Joyride. Once I had identified these three games, I looked at each of their characteristics and decided I was going to build a game using these concepts:

• Jetpack Joyride and Run 3 are both infinite runner style games.
• Jetpack Joyride and Geometry Dash both feature trap mechanisms (like spikes and lazers).
• Run 3 and Geometry Dash have very simplistic art styles.
• Jetpack Joyride features power ups that change game mechanics.

With this in mind, I began playing around with different ideas - ultimatelty ending up with the idea for an endless runner game where the player must flip gravity to avoid obstacles and use power ups which will change the mechanics of the game (for better or worse). The game name ‘Gravity Labs’ also game quite organically from this, as the idea for the storyline is you are a testificate working for a pioneering (if morally questionable) company looking to pioneer new forms of movement.

Given that this is a 3D, third person game, some form of ‘pipe’ would be needed to act as the boundaries for the game world. After experimenting with various different shapes, the octagonal prism was selected for its simplistic geometry (which will be useful for later optimisations, and for targeting a mobile platform) and the potential room for further mechanic tweaks later.

So far this sounds like a very interesting game, but just being able to flip gravity would only allow you to move vertically up and down - and this could just as easily be a 2D game. So instead, the octagonal prism was rotated so the end is 8 degrees rotated from the start, and the whole gravity system would rotate so now as you play gravity rotates around you as you travel down the pipe. The next devlog will look further into the level design for the game and detail more the mechanics of this gravity flipping behaviour.