Leo Saves the Swamp

Genre: 3D Foddian-Platformer

Engine: Unreal Engine 4

Team Size: 3 (Programmer/Designer, Artist, Sound Artist)

Development Time: 2 Weeks (Game Jam)

One day a small frog named Leo is gazing at the clouds till a large object burst through the sky, and lands in the forest. The meteor opens, releasing hoards of dangerous flies that kill plants they touch. Now with an empty stomach and even emptier mind, our hero must rid his home of this alien menace! This project was a 2-week game jam challenge to create a physics-based "Foddian" platformer, inspired by games like Jump King.

Design Focus (My Role: Team Leader & Designer)

Hopping Movement System: The foundation of the Foddian design, requiring charged jumps for variable distance and control.
Swallowing and Shooting System: Core combat and puzzle mechanics for using flies and blueberries.
Level Design: Architecting a challenging, multi-layered swamp environment that leverages the unique movement.
Puzzle Design: Creating obstacles that require precision jumping, shooting, and resource management.
Enemy AI Abilities: Defining the pathing and threat level of the alien flies.

Programming & Technical Magic (My Role: Programmer)

Movement System: Coded the unique charged-jump movement and physics, including the Wall Jump System.
Swallowing System: Engineered the logic for Leo to take in flies and blueberries.
Shooting System: Implemented the projectile mechanics for spitting out objects to solve puzzles.
Collectathon Mechanics: Programmed the fly collecting progression system.
Death and Respawn System: Established the punishing death and respawn loop integral to the Foddian genre.
Fly Enemy Pathing: Developed the basic AI for the alien flies.
Cinematic & UI Systems: Implemented the in-game cinematic sequences and user interface.

Key Features

Keystone Movement System: Instead of standard movement, players hold the jump button to charge distance, offering a high-skill, challenging core loop inspired by Jump King.
Wall Jump System: Designed and programmed a complementary wall jump that expands movement options and level scope.
Swallow/Spit Puzzles: Swallowing flies is required for progression; swallowing and shooting blueberries is key to solving physics-based puzzles.
Foddian Challenge: A steep difficulty curve with high stakes for mistakes (losing progress upon death).

The Exhibit: Scenes from the World

Unique Charged Hopping: This is the game's keystone mechanic. Players hold the jump button to charge jump distance, releasing to leap. This mechanical depth forces precision and strategic planning, defining the Foddian genre experience.
Technical Detail: Jump distance is determined by a variable charge timer.
Design Inspiration: Takes direct inspiration from challenging movement games like Jump King and Pogostuck.

Complementary Wall Jump: A wall jump system was designed and programmed to expand player mobility and puzzle design scope, complementing the challenging hop mechanic.
Design Impact: Allowed the team to create vertical swamp structures and expanded the range of platforming challenges.

Swallow/Spit Mechanics: Leo can swallow both flies (the collectable objective) and blueberries (the projectile puzzle tool). Shooting blueberries is essential for activating targets and progressing.
Technical Detail: Uses input management to differentiate between swallowing (collect) and shooting (puzzle solve) based on context.
Core Loop: Successfully swallowing alien flies is how Leo progresses in his mission to save the swamp.

Level Development: Comparison between the finished, detailed swamp environment and the initial grey box blockout map.
My Contribution: As the team leader and designer, I was responsible for designing and planning the level layout, which was then decorated by the team artist.
Focus: Ensuring the final environment provided clear visual cues and strategic landing spots for the complex movement system.