Domo Yoro

Mechanic Preview 2

Added 2023-02-21 18:00:02 +0000 UTC

Super Mario World is one of the sources of inspiration for this game, and that probably shines the most through this mechanic.

I have wanted to experiment with carry and throw for years now, even before starting development on Soda-Powered Penguin. In Super Mario World, it feels wonderful to kick shells both forwards and up. I wanted to extend this for a hypothetical Mario fangame by enabling throwing shells downwards for a small vertical boost. (I'm told that this aspect is reminecent of Klonoa, which is a game that I probably should play for research...)

The controls for picking up an object can be set to hold-and-release, or press once to pick up an object and press again to throw. Directional throwing functions the same as how a burst direction is decided, so it should feel natural. The only addition is the ability to simply drop an object by not holding a direction on throw.

For context: those yellow beams will destroy the tire.

Originally, the penguin didn't freeze when picking up an object, but then it was suggested that I add a pickup animation. In order to get the animation looking nice, hitstun was applied to the penguin... and this turned out to have positive gameplay implications. There was now a bit more time to input a throw direction immediately after picking up an object, so directional inputs feel cleaner.

(Even though the main influence for freezing when picking up an object is Super Mario Bros 2, I do worry a little about the Celeste comparisons. This isn't blind copying- I just happened to arrive at the same answer.)

Note: the sprites for the tire, as well as the effects for hitting the tire aren't finished yet

The one thing I really wanted to make sure worked for this game was the ability to throw an object, then bounce off of it in the air! Since then, I've found a lot more interesting interactions, but I'll keep those a secret for now- I think it's more fun to discover new techniques on your own.

There's more interactions with these throwables in the level itself, as well as different types of throwables. I'm looking forward to showing off more in the future!