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Plead with the Mountain God

A somber dark fantasy platformer made with Unity.

My main pillars for the level design of this project were:

1. Interconnectivity: Paths looping back to previous areas. Power-ups that give access to previously inaccessible areas.
2. Verticality: Making good use of the z-axis to add variety to the platforming, and ultimately going so high up that the player really feels like they are going to meet a god.
3. Secrets: Placing collectibles in a way that makes finding them fun, challenging and rewarding.

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Accomplishments:

Project Details
Development Time: 4-5 weeks
Development Platform: Unity
Main Responsibilities: Level Design, Programming, Lighting and Atmosphere, Set Dressing, Texturing, Optimizing Performance, Dialogue, Worldbuilding
Challenges: Coming up with an idea that fits the given theme (architectural horror), Adjusting the scope of the project to hit the deadline, Doing everything from design to art, code and music

Level Design Showcase
(Full Playthrough + Conversations + Secrets)

A full playthrough of the level. All conversations and collectibles showcased in a separate section starting at 14:27.

Design and Process

mountain_god_overview.png

The level's upgrade progression visualized.

Every upgrade is only reachable with the previous upgrades. Each upgrade can be used to access the center of the level,

which helps with navigation, and allows backtracking for secrets.

Comparisons between in-development and final areas.

MountainGod_ld_photos.png

A photo I took of a demolished building served as inspiration for the early platforming sections.

Step-by-Step Level Design Walkthrough

Though in-depth, this breakdown doesn't cover show everything. For that, please watch the full playthrough video at the top of the page.

Power-Ups

Horns

The horns allow the player to see and jump on previously invisible platforms. These platforms are needed to get across to the next building, and at many other places throughout the level.

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These platforms open up many new optional paths for the player to explore as well.

Claw

The claw allows the player to destroy cracked walls. Some of these walls open up shortcuts, and some need to be destroyed to proceed along the main path.

Thinking back, using a couple of these walls to hide secrets would have been a really cool addition.

Wing


The wing allows the player to double jump. Double jumping is needed to get to the last couple of buildings in the level, and ultimately to the end of the level.

There are also a couple of collectibles that are only reachable with the double jump.

Shortcuts

At a couple of points in the level, there are blocks the player can push down to create a shortcut, allowing them to get back on track faster should they fall.

This is the one area of the level that I would polish the most if I were to do it all over again, as these kinds of "physical" shortcuts feel much more rewarding than the simple checkpoint system the level mostly relies on (more on this at the end).

Hearts

There are 30 hearts to collect throughout the level, and 2 different endings to the game depending on how many you find (more on this at the end).

A couple of the hearts are placed along the main route to show the player that they exist, but most of them are optional, and some of them are fairly well hidden.

A UI element will pop up each time the player collects one, showing how many out of the 30 they have collecte
d.

Trailer

Extras

mountain_god_backcover.png

Since the game was heavily inspired by Playstation1 games, I thought it would be cool to make fake PS1 covers for it.

These were done entirely in Photoshop. The front cover was used as the cover image for the itch.io page.

Closing Thoughts

This game was made for the Haunted PS1 Summer of Screams Jam, with a little over a month to get it done. This game jam intrigued me, as it wasn't the typical 48 hour or 72 our fare, but instead lasted a whole month.

I thought a month would be plenty of time to make a decently "small" game, and for the most part it was, but I did cut it quite close with the submission. Considering that
I only worked on the game after work on my free time, it obviously wasn't a month of full-time work.

Players really seemed t
o like the level design with its unlockable shortcuts and connecting paths, and the story seemed to resonate with a lot of them, too (though many likened it to Shadow of the Colossus, which I, funnily enough, didn't consciously think about during development at all).

The game also had a limited physical release as part of the Super Rare Games Mixtape Volume #2, which while very small a release, for someone like me who holds the independent game development scene in high regard, was one of the highlights of my career.

What I would do differently, were I to start the same project all over again:

  • Add more shortcuts.

    • The portal that lets the player teleport to a point further in the level was kind of a band-aid solution, and given the time, I would have liked to add more "physical" shortcuts like dropping down ladders, tipping over trees to create a makeshift bridge, etc.
      The portal works fine, but opening up a physical shortcut and seeing how it connects to the previous area feels way more satisfying.

  • Re-design the checkpoint system.

    • The checkpoint system was another thing that came out of time restrictions. I had no time to create all the shortcuts I would have liked to, so my solution was to save the player's position at various points in the level, and make them continue from there should they fall.

    • A more robust shortcut system would have made it possible to reduce the number of checkpoints, and allow me to make each checkpoint more of an achievement, and maybe even incorporate them into the level as interactable objects instead of the invisible triggers they are now.

  • Re-design the point of no return.

    • There is a point of no return at the last building of the level, but there are also collectible hearts beyond that point. This means that if a player collects the last couple of hearts, and then realizes they have missed some, they cannot go back to search for the ones they missed. There is really no good reason for this, and were I to make that area again, I would create a shortcut back to the previous building, from where everything else is still accessible.

  • Make the conditions of the different endings more clear.

    • The game has 2 endings depending on how many hearts the player collects. Many players thought the better ending was only achievable by collecting all of the hearts, when in reality, they just needed to collect most of them to get that ending.
      This led to some confusion where players who already got the better ending (people who found most of the hearts, but not all of them) were trying to find them all to achieve the other ending, when in reality, they should have collected fewer hearts to get it.

      • I was trying to be kind to players, and make the better ending more achievable, but not communicating this clearly led to confusion among some players.
         

Art, design, music, programming all by me. Additional models by Carola Wennermark.
The game is free to download at https://jaymarksman.itch.io/plead-with-the-mountain-god.

Extras:

Developer Commentary (100% Playthrough)
Making Of

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