A Hunter’s Journey
ABOUT
‘A Hunter’s Journey’ was originally a school character controller project. We focused on creating a controller that allows player to run, jump, double jump, dash, wall slide, and climb. We analyzed the iconic character controllers (i.g. Megaman, etc), applied physics function to calculate each movement precisely, and adjust the data during amounts of playtesting, trying to create a character controller that ran smoothly, was predictable, felt good, and recognizable.
Role: Programmer
Duration: 2 week
Team: 2 members
Design details
Movements
Run & Jump: Heavy & Powerful. There is weight and impact to player movements.
The feel was developed and iterated by changing the speed of Mega Man’s movement and also his “mass.”
Wall Slide: Wall slides when the player holds a left/right input into the wall and is falling. He falls if the player stops holding left/right.
The feel was developed and iterated through multiple tests on the speed and the general feel of “friction” on Mega Man.
Wall Jump: Jump if the player is holding left/right input into the wall, and is touching the wall. Also receives a kick back in the opposite direction when player jumps that forces character away from the wall.
The feel was developed and iterated by adjusting the force that was added to each wall jump. The “kickback force was adjusted.
Dash: Player can achieve both ground dash & air dash. Player dashes at a high speed within a certain amount of time.
The feel was developed and iterated by changing the speed of dash and how long does dash last.
Double Jump: Player can jump for the second time in the air during the first jump.
Level Design
There are two maps in the game demo, the forest and the desert.
In the forest, player gets familiar with the movement and the environment. Player learns about run, jump, double jump, dash, wall sliding, and applies and practices these movements in this level. Player also start to interact with the environment. The hunter starts with only 1 HP in the beginning, player could heal the hunter by collecting the heals in the environment.
The second map desert starts to challenge the player. Firstly, the platforms are more difficult to reach. Player may combine the different movements (jump+dash, wall slide+jump, double dash) to get through the map. Besides, the game brings the “desert fire” as new mechanics. Player can only get through it safely by “dashing” through it. Also, there are alternative paths in the second map, player can choose freely on which path to take.