Finish Your Game Jam - v0.1.0 Update

Authors: Cam, Stuart

Introduction

Sun Skimmer is a flying game focused on exploration and skill expression. It started from a question: can I make a flying game that provides both intrinsic and extrinsic reward for skill, without resorting to combat (or more sinister designs, like Superman 64 rings)? Many popular flying games seek to capture the "fighter pilot" fantasy. Games like Ace Combat and Sky Rogue, to name just a few. Others, like Feather or Aer, lean into exploration and capture a feeling of bird flight. And yet others like Superflight or Pugl utilize procedural generation to add terrain variety around carefully crafted flight mechanics.

Sun Skimmer is still an early project, but it seeks to carve a unique path within this space by providing flight mechanics that are relatively easy to pick up, but difficult to master, within an environment filled with challenges and secrets targeting a range of skill levels.

The Early Prototype

The demo presented at a PIGSquad event preceding the Jam consisted of a level with 3 islands. On the bottom of each island, protrusions of earth to fly between, as well as caves. On top, some overarching theme: a wind farm, a canyon, a forested plain. There were 5 collectable items, each of which had some associated powerup, e.g. boost drains more slowly, base speed increase, etc. There was also a boost mechanic, with a boost bar that drained on use and had effectively no speed limit. The only way to acquire more boost was to fly between branches of trees, between wind turbine blades, and similar small challenges. The control scheme was modeled after flight simulators, and the camera was fixed so that it would roll with the bird, like a cockpit view. For aesthetics, I used a shader that provided flat colors with cel shading and outlines on objects, inspired by the artwork of Moebius.

The prototype had many issues. The bird was way too fast, the controls were clunky, and the camera was making players disoriented. The items were unbalanced. It was too hard to get boost. And so on. But it allowed for some quality playtesting, and for an eventual team formation for the jam.

Link to the demo vid on BlueSky

Jam Approach

We formed a team in time for the jam, with Stuart leading 3D art and level design. We collaborated on influences for art direction, and sought to simplify the game design to focus on the core mechanics. The primary goal was to iterate in tandem, with flight mechanics informing level design, and vice versa.

Changes Made

Flight Mechanics

Cam

The biggest flight mechanic change was introducing a "skimming" mechanic. This was inspired by Superflight, where flying close to obstacles without crashing adds to your score, and this added score increases the closer you get to those obstacles. In this case, skimming recharges boost. Players with more skill will be able to keep their boost up by staying close to obstacles, looking stylish while also traversing the level more quickly. The technical implementation for this uses a series of raycasts around the bird's Z axis (in the XY plane), which check for nearby obstacles and their distance. If the player is within some threshold distance of the obstacle, boost is awarded. Players gain boost more quickly if they skim closer to these obstacles.

Another critical change was the inclusion of YAML configuration files for the bird's flight parameters. This allowed Stuart to experiment with alternative sets of parameters while designing level elements. The result was a bird much more suited to flying complex terrain at a slower, but still exciting pace.

We also implemented diving and ascending mechanics. Pointing upwards will slow the bird down, and pointing downwards will initiate a dive. For this, the ascend/dive initiates after some pitch threshold (for example, 20deg), and then applies acceleration as a function of pitch angle. So pitching more steeply will have a stronger effect. Upon flattening out a dive, the bird will start to slow down after a brief period of maintained speed. This needs a lot more tuning, but has made flying much more dynamic. Dives now make up some of the most exciting challenges in the game.

Multiplayer

Cam

We added local split-screen multiplayer during the jam. This has been a great way to get additional user testing, as well as to add an additional element of fun to the game. When playing in multiplayer, you see your friend's trail ahead of you and can follow them around on an adventure together. While no other multiplayer elements are planned at this time, it would certainly be interesting to have something like a Journey multiplayer, or a Dark Souls ghost mechanic, to give players someone to interact with, even if indirectly.

Art & Level Design

Stuart

The art and design process for sun skimmer started with gathering references. I pulled images and screenshots from artists, games, movies, and real life to guide the world’s style. A few major influences were Castle in the Sky, Wii sports resort free flying and FPV Drone videos in which drone pilots would fly through abandoned buildings or skillfully drop through towering smokestacks.

After some quick concepting, I started blocking out a variety of shapes in blender that I thought would be fun to fly through or around. Sea caves, rows of arches and towers full of openings were all ripe for exploration. I dropped models straight into unity to find out which of them were fun, the plan was to discover what made for good gameplay and then build on the aesthetic from there. As more models made it into the game I began to focus on the flow and variety of movement, making different pieces and challenges flow into each other in different ways. Drops led to arches, arches to holes, all the while gliding between pillars and around curves. This design principle is something I want to emphasize going forward.

Artistically, the environment is mostly the basics right now. The entire environment is mapped to a single texture with the faces of each mesh unwrapped and placed on separate colors. The look is mostly being carried by the shaders.

In the future, I plan to rework the terrain entirely to better support the structures on top of them and introduce fauna like birds and flying fish. I plan to use the current shapes as a base for expansion and detailing. We’ve also been toying with the idea of turning the bird into a manned glider like the one in Nausicaa, which is a challenge that could be worthwhile.

Game Design

Cam

With renewed focus on level design and mechanics, all but the boost mechanic was effectively removed. The main game element for now is [SPOILER] the hidden challenges. There are currently 7-8 challenges within the game that require a player to perform a skilled flight maneuver near obstacles. We hope that finding these will become a source of motivation for players, without detracting from players' own desire to explore and challenge themselves within the environment. This will form the foundation for other potential challenges. For example, there is a cave system in one of the islands. Keeping track of a player's former paths or completion times could lead to promising designs, such as time trials.

Moving Forward

We're currently taking a well-deserved break, after which we'll come back fresh with visions for additional iterations of the game. For now, the main points are:

• Music and SFX
  
• Animation
• Texture work 
• Lighting work
• More hidden challenges
• Tutorial

We are actively looking for playtesters, so if you're interested, please feel free to contact! We're also interested in teaming up with a music/SFX expert as we move forward towards a more complete game.