Yeah, I like the arm flapping too. I don’t really need the knights to look “cool”, the arm flapping is cute and I think cute works better.
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I appreciate the suggestion and am always, always open to hearing feedback on stuff like that! So thank you for commenting!
There are certainly a lot of neat extras (wings, tails, etc.) that could be added to make the knights resemble their respective animal more. I think of characters like Medli from The Windwaker (when her wings are out while flying) as a beautiful example of this. Or even without that, subtle things like the Bird Queen perhaps wearing an outfit with drapey sleeves that resemble wings.
Unfortunately, as a few people mentioned, extra details like that SIGNIFICANTLY complicate my workflow 
There are far better artists than me out there who have made some truly inspired designs when it comes to animal-themed characters. Since this is a mostly solo project though, I’m planning on keeping the designs and art to their most simple and basic cartoony forms.
At the end of they day, it definitely means there are some silly visual moments, like a bird knight flailing about to flutter, but it’s a sacrifice that means I don’t drown in the details of the project. (plus I think that goofiness might just be part of my style!)
All that said, if people see something that looks wonky—let me know! I’ve rambled on and on about how I value feedback, so I definitely want to hear these thoughts so I can consider making changes.
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Your art style is really great. Your characters’ designs, poses, expressions and animations come alive with relatively simple lines and shapes. That’s not any easier to accomplish than painstaking detail. And often it’s limitation that breeds creativity. Maybe if you had more time and resources you could give the bird knight crazy appearing and disappearing wing-arms but I think that would be too much. The silly flapping animation is adorable.
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The game is becoming much more than I expected and it was already good in its first iteration (for what it was) so I think you already did an excellent job so far.
I’ve been following your works since the game Jam with Breakfast Chub and I read all the devnotes blog entries, personally I love the art style (and I study and draw comics, so I can tell the difference between bad and good art) but focusing on graphical improvements should be the last goal and, as I said, the game looks already incredibly good as it is (especially for a weight gain game). Since you’re so open to suggestions, before touching the design of the characters maybe you should wait for people reactions when they can actually play the game, while playing people’s imagination will spark probably.
But do what you prefer, in my opinion you didn’t miss a shot with the decisions you took for the game so far. This post is more a form of appreciation for your works than anything else.
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Hello everyone!
Roops I have a question.
Will the new game be able to replay the levels of the current version or will it be all new?
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Even if they are built anew, it could make for a neat easter egg to have a couple of callbacks to the game jam level design, such as the Cat’s “death chimney” - death chimney 2.0! 
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The new release will feature all new levels, so the original levels will not be making a return. This is definitely for the best though–the Gain Jam time constraints (and me just having less experience nearly 6 months ago) meant that the old levels weren’t exactly well designed. Plus, so much has changed about the game since the original release, that those old levels really wouldn’t work very well anyway!
I think the new game has a lot of fun tricks up its sleeve that you’ll get to preview when I release the “movement test” demo next month.
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Hmhmhm…This sounds promising. And I can see how it’d be confining if the original levels were reintroduced. Based on the fact that there will be new elements, it’d be too tight, presumably. Edited to remove something I said, because of the possible implications. I was unaware of how my post could be seen as ‘inappropriate’, though on retrospection…it may hav
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Just wanted to say I played the game and enjoyed it! Looking forward to 1.0!
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Hey everyone! I appreciate your patience as I continue to work on the game. My job has been crazy lately, so it’s been tough to dedicate as much time as I’d like… but I’m still chugging along!
Just a quick update–things are on track and looking good for sharing a playable “Movement Test” demo by the end of the month (probably the VERY end haha). Just to keep everyone’s expectations in check, this demo will NOT feature the Queens. It’s strictly for testing the new platforming mechanics, but I hope you’ll find it fun regardless!
Here’s a short clip of some progress: https://twitter.com/softercode/status/1360733443685036038
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So smooth! Excited to finally take a crack at it. :o
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Nice! I’m liking the slight head sway at (presumably) the biggest size which accentuates the character’s waddle.
I’ll be curious to see what platforming puzzles will need to see the knights chonking up so. I guess to infiltrate a pig’s lair one must become the pig as well!
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Thanks!
I’m definitely eager/nervous to get feedback on if the whole weight-oriented puzzle-platformer thing “works”. The demo won’t reveal my full hand in terms of what I plan to do with the idea, but it will have enough bread and butter examples to see if people like the general concept.
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I don’t even know what to do with my excitement even just for a little movement test. That gif makes the new mechanics look terrific. Any chance of seeing one of the queens or will that wait for a more substantial demo?
Edit: how did I miss you say it won’t feature the queens lol? Sorry! Still excited! Excitement is probably why my attention/short term memory failed.
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I guess the question you have to pose yourself when level designing is simply: why would the player need to, or be willing to, traverse a level with reduced mobility when given the choice?
- Destructible flooring and walls hiding goodies or alternative pathways.
- Weight-operated floor switches, both positive (activating traps, doors… trapdoors) and negative (deactivating trap corridors that require a sufficiently high weight to safely traverse)
- Scales/balance platforms needing to lift an obstacle out of the way by being heavier than it.
- Resistance to adverse movement effects such as wind, water, being shoved about etc
I’m sure there are other ideas out there so I look forward to being pleasantly surprised!
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Ahahaha. I think we share a design brain. Several of those things will be in the demo!
The tough part is definitely making being fat not feel too frustrating for the player. I spent a lot of time tweaking speed, jump height, etc. I want the player to feel the heft, but also still be able to actually move about without feeling like lead as it was in the game jam.
Trying to balance some sense of realism with cartoony forgiveness is the target.
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Maybe different animations, separate from the actual movement speed, would help. Larger but fewer steps, etc?
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For sure! The animations for the different weights change already, as does the character’s facial expression. I’m fairly satisfied artistically with the weight change—it’s the gameplay itself you’ll all have to test for me to see if it’s a good balance.
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I feel then along with alternate pathways, “alternate challenges” could be a consideration. You could reward a player for being chunky by giving them an easier time with certain challenge rooms. So a heavy character who struggled with the previous room’s platforming challenge can now stroll past this screen’s trap corridor with impunity, whereas the opposite could be said for lighter characters.
The more I think about it, the more it makes sense that a heavy knight would have an easier time traversing certain sections of the castle - a castle designed and built for heavy-set castle denizens in mind!
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are the queens ever gonna meet??
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