Luckslinger
Responsible for: Game Design, Level Design, Pixel art and animation, Script, Sound FX
In Luckslinger, luck is measurable, collectable and usable whenever you please.
On one half it’s inspired by the unrealistically fast gunslingers, the dark gritty humor and the greed driven anti-heroes of the spaghetti western classics.
On the other half it’s inspired by vinyl digging, graffiti spraying, rhyming and the slow drums and jazzy samples of hip hop culture and sound.
Reviews
“The charm of the writing and music alone is worth the asking price”
IndieJuice
“A deeply fun and challenging platform shooter that mixes western and hip-hop aesthetics to create an extraordinary game.”
9 – Techraptor
“Luckslinger is a hardcore platformer with tight and addicting gameplay, and has a theme and style that, while great-looking, never takes itself too seriously.”
9.3 – IndieRuckus
Game Design
Luckslinger has a few sometimes smart and sometimes just unique game mechanics. Here a few of those explained in a bit more detail:
Luck:
Your luck can change during gameplay, depended on how much luck you collected. The player will always be a little bit lucky as a 1/10 but never 100% lucky as a 10/10. So the player will be somewhere between 2 and a 9. This is because we would always want the player to feel lucky but never so lucky it can be relied on. (because that would defeat the purpose of luck). Mechanics that are influenced by luck: bullets, throwables, platforms, falling dangers, pit falls, russian roulette, gambling, health drops, money drops and more.
Bullets and reloading:
You have unlimited ammo. Your gun only holds 6 bullets. Bullets are reloaded 1 by 1.
Reloading does not only take time but can also only be done when you are with both feet on the ground. This gives all the gun play more depth, because the faster you are back on the ground after dodging (the better you are/more risk you take), the quicker you can reload. The quicker you can reload the faster you can kill an enemy.
On the other hand, remaining on the ground is the most risky place but also buys you time to reload more bullets. Jumping/dodging late can also be beneficial.
Shooting speed and kickback:
The faster you unload your gun, the more kickback (with an up angle) your bullet trajectories will have. The player has a choice to get close to an enemy (which is risky) and unload bullets fast. But by being close the bullets will still not fly over the enemy's head. Or the player can keep more distance and shoot a bit slower for less kick-back. But it's also safer.
The Knife:
The knife was introduced to give the player that 1 extra option to add to the flow of the gameplay. Unlike bullets, the knife is thrown in an arc, making it an ideal attack for when the player is in mid jump. The knife being as free-flowing as it is also heightens the potential skill ceiling of the game.
Design commentary video
Level Design
Intro level: the player gets dropped in this level while the intro credits roll. Its a free space in which the player can't get hurt or do anything to not progress. It's a place for the player to just test all the buttons. Experienced game players pick up on controls and mechanics fast and don't need a step by step approach.
Pre level 1: in this level the player is "forced" to learn basic jumps and learn about the luck mechanic. But is never stopped in doing so. The player can decide to go/read in their own speed.
Pre level 2: teach the player shooting, reloading and dodging. Same rules apply, player gets to go through in on their own speed.
Town 1: Mostly made for story and worldbuilding reasons. But a key learning here for the player is learning what money can be spend on. (and its importance)
The levels (and towns to some extend) have their own unique theme's and mechanics.
Level 1 is a straightforward level that extends on tutorial level.
Level 2 is a level with more verticality and longer battle zones (elevators in this case)
Level 3 consists of moving trains and thus with moving platforms.
Level 4 consists of only battle zones, testing the players reflexes and adaptability. But also memory.
Level 5 is another more straightforward level mixing elements from previous levels.
Level 6 is a snow and ice level. Adding ice sliding mechanics (among other things) to the mix. Making it a true test of player movement capabilities.
The 7 level bosses are in a way also 7 mini levels. Bosses 1 to 6 limit the players movement space in various ways. But the final boss is more special, basically made to feel like the player is fighting another player.
Development and Key Learnings
Some key takeaways from the development of Luckslinger:
- Arrange more playtesters. Especially testers to reach the later levels of the game.
- For level design: work with a level editor or have good prefab management.
- Be sure to have room and time to experiment. This gave us room to give more gameplay depth in a relatively basic game genre.
- Develop more accessibility options for different types of players
- Make every cutscene skippable.. :)