CannonPaul #1 - Proof of prototype

This kind of works- Check it out here.

So... it's time. Sure, I have stuff that I've started previously, but this comes from a place that's been on my mind as of recent. Plus, it's super quick to make and will work on keyboard, mouse or touchscreen relatively easily.

The concept is this: It's a circus and people need to be entertained. After running out of other options, the only thing left is to fire a guy named Paul out of a cannon. Paul doesn't want to die (presumably), so he has to bounce off of conveniently placed trampolines until he can get to the safety of the target/end-zone/safety-net/pile-of-mattresses. I assure you, there's a deep meta-narrative here and this is more than just a dumb idea developed from a pun.

What made me want to come back to this was some thinking I was doing about game replayability and how best to use mechanics in interesting ways. At the moment, the only real player goal in that room is to get to the target, but there are a lot of other ways to subtly change or refine the player goal to get more out of what is essentially the same room, as well as gradually introduce the player to new techniques and tougher difficulty.

For example, a refinement of the goal may be to reach the target without influencing Paul in mid-air (or only influencing him for a short amount of time). Another could be to only reach the goal after bouncing on all available trampolines, or only bouncing in a minimal number of trampolines. An outright change to the player goal would require additional development, but that's kind of the plan... I want to add some kind of combo or hype meter, so getting a high enough score might be good enough for a goal.

Anyway, I think that's enough for today. I'll probably get closer to a more complete prototype before the end of the week and then see where that goes. I want to actually finish this though, and if there doesn't end up enough to have this commercial, I'll just put it up on Gamejolt or Kongregate instead.