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Translucence .hectate 02/03/2010 - 08:51 EST This game came to my mind when I was thinking about Canabault again, specifically the minimalist theme. I arbitrarily decided to restrict the use of color to black, white, and two shades of a single color. When contemplating how I could use these colors together, I expanded it slightly to two shades of a single color at a time. So here is Translucence, a minimalist platformer based on the concept that the human eye has difficulty distinguishing a red, green, or blue object from a matching background. In Translucence, the player is given the ability to move left and right, up and down on ladders, and jump. The goal is to reach an exit, of which one exists for each level. Standard platforming fare is included, such as moving and vanishing platforms. In addition to the standard movement actions, the player is also given a "swap color" ability. This ability swaps the current single color for another. Each successive use of this ability rotates through the three primary computer colors - red, green, and blue. A players score or skill level can be partially represented by the number of times this ability was used in order for the level to be completed. A level-end comparison to the minimum number of times required (a "par" so to speak) can be used to spur the player to re-try the level. Level design is strongly dependent on the three available colors. When the current color is red, for instance, the background will also be red. As a result, any surfaces, platforms, or walls that are also red will be translucent (slightly darker or lighter) and the player will pass through them without being able to interact with them. Green or Blue objects, however, will be completely solid instead. When the player swaps color to the next color, green, then all red (and still all blue) objects will become solid while green objects will become translucent (and thus not solid). Walls designed as black will always be solid. Ladders will be drawn in white and will always be white. Since we are still restricted to displaying only black, white, and one color onscreen at a single time, care will have to be taken to ensure the player understands which objects are translucent to which color (red, green, or blue again). As a result, objects that are the next color in sequence (red to green, for example) will be shown in white. Objects that are two swaps away (red to blue) will be shown in black. For further challenge, the levels could include some form of collection (coins, stars, etc) which is also restricted by the current color being utilized. I personally consider this feature creep, but still more complicated levels could be designed to include hazards (enemies, spikes, acid, etc), control mechanisms (gates, switches, etc), and other game devices (crates, teleports, etc). Obviously all of the above could be restricted to certain colors, or not at all depending on the needs of the level. On another note, I am aware that some elements of my design are similar to Time Fcuk. This wasn't intentional by any means. |