Little Fixer
Little Fixer is an arcade-style platformer where you race around a colossal mech, repairing its breaking body parts in order to keep it from being destroyed. The longer you can avoid missile fire and keep the mech running, the higher your score!
Contributions
Project Lead
Lead Gameplay Design
C# Programming
2D Movement
One of the most interesting elements of the game is the way the camera wraps around the mech. In order to feel like a classic arcade game, we wanted the player to only be able to move in two dimensions. This would make both racing around a body simpler, as well as keep the perspective easier on the eyes during such a chaotic game. It was incredibly important to make sure the player could not fall off the edges of the mech, so a considerable amount of time was dedicated to verifying this worked perfectly.
Damages
The difficulty of the game ramps up exponentially over a short amount of time. If the player can keep up with repairs and avoid taking damage, they have less to worry about as time goes on. However, the more sections they allow to be completely destroyed, the more difficult it becomes to keep up with new damages that arise. The damages themselves are randomly generated around fixed locations, meaning the destroyed body part will stop spawning additional damages.
Visuals
Everything from the platforms the player jumps across to the passing city buildings give the player a sense of scale. They are meant to be a tiny character on a massive robot; with each heavy stomp bouncing the camera. Careful consideration was put into each visual, making sure that there was enough to convey the theme without distracting the player.
Missiles
The missiles were added to keep the player moving in a hurry rather than swapping from location to location with nothing more than platforming. In order to keep the threat snowballing with the damages, missile frequency increases as well. This means that the player often has to take unique paths to get to broken locations in order to stay alive long enough to reach them. Otherwise, they are sent back to the entrance and have to traverse the entire mech again.
Professional Product
While obviously a little rough due to it being a game jam, the final product was meticulously designed to feel professional. The start menu is clean, with adjustable audio that is saved between play sessions. The intro sequence, while brief, is just enough to give the player an idea of the environment they are in without any dialogue. Even the leader board, while not completed, demonstrates a full gameplay loop within a brief amount of time.
