suddenly got some random inspiration to make a inflation based platformer centered around delivering packages, but i have not actually done any game dev before so i want some feedback on my proof of concept and any potential ideas anyone would like to pitch
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It sounds like a good game for your first project! Platformers aren’t too difficult in the grand scheme of things and are a great starting point.
Maybe on top of using inflation to reach high areas you can also include some obstacles to try and avoid, like moving enemies or spike walls
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made a update to add a proper level selector as well as a tutorial to explain things,
i’m pretty proud of this so far of what is just 5ish hours of development
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Just played it and yeah, it is a lot for 5 hours. Nice! Excited to see how the levels progress and hope the rest of development goes as smoothly 
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made a update that added 2 levels testing stage hazards
still mostly just basic testing, ill get something proper soon
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For just being basic testing. this shows a lot of promise.
You say you did this in just a couple hours? That’s impressive.
I see lots of potential here.
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Kinda gives me Fancy Pants Adventures vibes with the rough style. Maybe you could add in momentum based movement? At no to low inflation you have perfect control but a lower speed, but you can fill yourself up with a heavier than air filling to roll around with momentum based movement.
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that honestly seems really cool, could probably implement it as a unique thing some levels focus around. and on the topic of momentum based movement, one of the main gameplay elements i wanted to add was adding a ranking system depending on how fast you could complete a level (under the motif of it being a game of delivering packages).
though i was planning to rework the inflation system to better reflect this, because i wanted to add more sizes that would cause your hitbox to be larger but you would also move faster as a result.
i just haven’t reflected this in the demo’s yet due to this mostly just being a learning experience for me, so it might be a buggy mess for a while
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I think you could also incorporate something similar and equally skilled based for regular movement is a bounce mechanic. Balloons bounce, so if you hit a surface fast enough while sufficiently inflated you’d be bounced away. You could try chaining them to build speed or just move faster.
Now for the sizes, bigger is always going to be better. Maybe a ridiculously large supermax size could be a reward for beating the game, or tie in other rewards to decent level completion times? This is a fetish game, so I don’t think you’d want to make any rewards tied to fetish elements too hard to get.
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So far I’ve been designing the game off the mindset that the fetish elements should be the main mechanics the game focuses on so I don’t think I’ll lock anything behind having to be good enough to actually see it
Maybe I’ll have the super big sized be the gimmicks of specific levels instead of the regular sizes
I will have a gallery that I includes all the sprites in the game so people will be able to view that without having to beat the game
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how about a special power-up featured in some levels that overinflate you, locking you at the special bigger size for a set amount of time, with some special properties?
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That’s honestly the best way I could go about doing that, because the only other way I could think about it was having to do the entire level at the super big size
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Got bored and didn’t have anything better to do to I decided to do a phone doodle of what I think I could do with this, because most the sprites in the game took less than a minute or two to make
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Looks good for a concept. My main feedback is that you’d want to keep the head size consistent with the first sprite. It helps convey a sense of growth for that to remain unchanging.
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also figured I’d bring this up, but you should allow the player to hold the button down to inflate/deflate, and put a maximum inflation/deflation rate on, so speedruns don’t force their competitors to get carpal tunnel. Also having a dynamic inflation system means you can use it as a health bar or progress bar of sorts…!
Just as a general rule of thumb, with programming I’ve learned it’s best to separate everything. so if you make an actual display for that inflation meter, make sure it’s controlled by a variable separate from the inflation level. That way if you want to use it to display anything else, you’re not screwed and have to reprogram the whole thing.
Currently I am in the process of recoding the current code I have for the player to actually be less confusing because right now it’s kinda tedious to change, because currently I am thankful it even works, but this will be part of the recode along with other things that should make it feel better to play
the game definitely is a buggy mess but I’m honestly glad for the responses I get on it so I can make it better
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ofc! I’ve been coding for a while so i don’t mind pitching any ideas. Game design is like, really hard, man. and a lot of people undervalue it. Keep on trucking and if you need any advice my DMs are open :>
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