Having now watched Tony from Hard4Games play my pre-alpha demo has been a truly wonderful. But clearly I have much work to do. I have realised the potential in these platforming challenges is being dispersed as optional for veterans, not mandatory. Instead, the game will consist of large open sandbox areas. Tony said something along the lines of ‘It was fun just throwing yourself around and seeing how far you can go’. But though out the stream you can see him clearly fighting back pain and frustration to the linear platforming challenges, as such, this more sandbox style of map, where the player experiments naturally and works their way to the destination to reach a goal in a number of different ways. This way learning the controls will be organic, and not forced upon the player. From here I will be working on a new design for Snoot Village, one that is perfect for doing just that, and motivated by a number of wholesome side quests to undertake across the village.

In the past, I have also toyed with the idea of using a cosmic setting for the snoots, and them as existing as more ethereal creatures, below I have posted an image of an earlier version of Snootville and snoot, and I will be moving back towards this concept. I have fallen in love with the idea of a cosmic tree, reaching out to space and this being a mode of transportation for the snoots across the worlds. Spirits that orbit this tree as its leaves will be the collectable of this game.

I will have more to you all soon, once I have begun to flesh this all out.

Furthermore, there needs to be more consideration to the move set for new players. I am toying with the idea of a hover jump, where the snoot flaps his ears after tapping A twice to slow down his decent and jump a little further. Though I do not want the player to become two dependent on this mechanic, withholding them from learning the full game mechanics, so this idea remains in flux and will need some experimentation. And lastly, I need to focus on some method of ledge grabbing, to stop the current issue of the snoot Sticking to edges, and be more forgiving of undershooting those jumps. I particularly like the idea of the snoot grabbing onto walls with his nose and sticking for a moment before flicking himself up, if he is close enough to a corner. Overall, this was a great learning experience, and there is much work to be done!

So here is my closing statement to the stream by Hard4Games. It was truly wonderful to have watched Tony play my game and a huge thank you! Feedback, and watching others play your creation is incredibly important. As a developer you will know exactly how to play your game, and the feedback of watching others play it their own way – is crucial to the design.

Thank you once more H4G for showcasing my early work, and thank you everyone for your support!