Bounce is a simple platformer using only one button to jump. You can stick to the top or bottom of moving platforms, which is how you get around, trying to reach the exit of a level.

Bounce was created over 48 hours for Ludum Dare 26 where the theme was Minimalism. It was my first time using Unity 3D for a project, and as I came from python I decided to use the Boo language for its rough similarity.

Despite boo looking like python it wasn't as familiar as I had hoped. While I found unity having a great amount of documentation and community resources, very little of it was oriented towards using boo. Still for stumbling through I was mostly happy with how the game turned out.

What didn't work well:

Side Collisions

Collisions only work directly up and down, which while intentional made it feel bad when the character slipped through a platform that impacts on the side.

Potential Fixes:

1. Letting the platform push you to the side.
2. Changing the platform look (round the sides) so it made more sense to slip around it.
3. Redo the impact calculation to put you on the side you were closest to when impacting.

Platform Speed

Platforms can have different speeds/move patterns which makes it very visually confusing to estimate where they will be. This also causes it to take a long time for a “full cycle” to occur.

Potential Fixes:

1. Show the platforms path.
2. Show the end positions of platforms.
3. Implement some kind of onion skinning to show the platform positions over time.

What worked well:

Simple Controls/Mechanics

It was pretty easy for anyone to play. Even with the need to time platforming, the singular input really helped accessibility. In the future though I think I could improve it by allowing players to slow or speed up game time to better fit their preference.

Color shifting

The slow shift between levels color schemes was a nice effect that really helped with the laid back feeling I wanted from the game. Though perhaps some of the colors were not the best for people with color blindness. In the future I would likely include some options to help enhance the contrast of different elements.

Lessons Learned:

1. Playtest feedback is necessary to confirm the issues that are important to players.
2. A well though out level system makes iteration much faster for testing changes.
3. The less steps to getting to playing the game, the greater the amount of people will play it. (Web plugin or now Webgl make this significantly easier than before)

Overall I was really happy with how this little jam game turned out. I have pondered ways to update it to fully flesh it out, but aside from the fixes I listed above, none of the expansions of the idea ever felt right. So for now it can continue to live on as a tiny minimalist platformer.