The game's art are great, the narrative and gameplay environment creates a serene atmosphere. However, I encountered issues with the hitbox and movement controls, which need refinement. The platforms could be larger, and adding checkpoints would help prevent restarting from falls. The unique jumping mechanic and engaging dialogue are standout features, though the character's speed and initial game explanation could be improved. Overall, it's a solid effort that fits well within the game jam's theme.
Play To Clean The Mountain
To Clean The Mountain Demo's itch.io pageGame Title
To Clean The Mountain
Developer Name
Yinz Devlopment
Short Promo Blurb
To Clean The Mountain is a game Created for the 2024 Climate Jam which follows the story of a person carrying a bag of recyclables to the top of a mountain to recycle, picking up trash along the way and in turn, cleaning the mountain. As you climb, the spirit of the mountain speaks to you about its struggles.
Promo Image(s)
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/4a6bu9k0vlndz6ni5mhpu/AFpvjx0tuWQc4o-fHJsqZ6E?rlkey=op4cx9ac4u6wnk7d0xhkmrh40&st=9bqq7d2j&dl=0
Promo Video
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/q1tzgjmobicbvum3goki6/ToCleanTheMountainPromoVideo.mp4?rlkey=x84a7fz5km597oytioxnhvdny&st=zxhahqqy&dl=0
Artistic Statement / Use of Theme(s)
For the art to really start we needed a game idea. We bounced from different ideas like dating sim, to puzzle game, to an rpg, until we settled on a platformer. In the beginning, our inspiration was “Jump King” a precise platformer where the player can lose progress if they take a wrong jump. At the beginning of development we had 2 pixel artist, so it was a given what style we wanted to use. As the lead art developer in this jam, I wanted to limit the pixel size to 16x16 for the player in order to save time and use it on other aspects of the project. The main premise was that the player climbed a mountain like in other platformers, but to add in the theme of “change the story” we wanted the player to also pick up litter found scattered across the mountain in order to recycle them at the top. With these aspects in mind the game mechanics and art themes played hand in hand, eventually leading to the design of the player slinging themselves up the mountain using a trash bag. After research on different platformers, “Celeste” became leading inspiration behind the playable character in our game. While crafting the animations for the player, I wanted to show a sense of bouncy weight from carrying a trash bag over the shoulder showing how hard making a difference can be, but doing your part is what matters. The vfx makes the rest of the art come together. Since a majority of the tiles used were filled with nature, I felt that creating some falling leaves would tie in the playable foreground with the rest of the background making the game world feel more believable. I also made a variety of recyclable waste that would litter all over the mountain and the player is able to interact with. This decision was made to show things that get thrown out improperly and can be used to better the environment instead of harm it.
-Anthony
Development Summary
Development went well in the first preproduction phase where we completed our planning documents. Unfortunately, from the prototype phase onward most of our team was occupied with other things leading to the future portions being completed by the main artist and game designer. The scope of the level with this few team members was too much which required us to cut the experience down to the first of 3 sections. The mechanics were simplified and honed as we discovered what was fun and what was unnecessary. One of the big changes is that instead of the recyclables giving you more force the takeaway force slightly making the game more challenging. Between production at testing the game was contributed to by about 10 people.
Release Plan
The current state of the game is playable and fun, but a bit on the shorter side. It doesn’t matter much for the jam because it still takes most players a good 20 minutes to play through, but for a full game release more would be better. There are a few more mechanics that have the programming and art started but weren’t implemented yet to focus on the core gameplay loop. We would like to expand the level significantly and incorporate those mechanics before releasing the game on other platforms. Farther areas would incorporate their own unique mechanics while still maintaining the frustrating platforming that makes this genre unique.
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