The Final Frontiersman
- Solo project
- Made for the 34th GM48 48-hour game jam (2020)
- Side-scrolling wave-based arcade game
- Made in GameMaker Studio 2
Overview
In The Final Frontiersman, you play as a space cowboy up against the hostile life on three tiny planets, each with their own twist.
Each level features distinctive, efficient design that makes good on the unique presentation and premise of the game.
You get a very different experience from each planet, but that was achieved by making small, manageable tweaks in existing behavior from one to the next.
I'm very proud of the water level in particular, which emphasizes a split between three different levels of verticality in its different enemy types and gives the gameplay a dynamic, back-and-forth feel.
This project is emblematic of the sorts of limitations I love to work under in game design. By starting with the premise of walking around small planets, I had the challenge of playing to the strengths of that concept in a way that was feasible within the time constraints of the jam. The Final Frontiersman also served as an excuse to play around with some fun math, which laid the groundwork for my later game The Last Spire!
This project is emblematic of the sorts of limitations I love to work under in game design. By starting with the premise of walking around small planets, I had the challenge of playing to the strengths of that concept in a way that was feasible within the time constraints of the jam. The Final Frontiersman also served as an excuse to play around with some fun math, which laid the groundwork for my later game The Last Spire!
Lessons Learned
Don't give up too soon, perseverance is key!
I actually considered dropping this project halfway through, as I felt I hadn't made enough progress, but resolved to give it a few more hours of focused work. Soon after, I realized that the game was much closer to completion than I had thought. I was still fighting against the clock, but by designing later levels to use minor code edits to recontextualize existing functionality in an interesting way, I could easily turn it into a finished project to be proud of.
I actually considered dropping this project halfway through, as I felt I hadn't made enough progress, but resolved to give it a few more hours of focused work. Soon after, I realized that the game was much closer to completion than I had thought. I was still fighting against the clock, but by designing later levels to use minor code edits to recontextualize existing functionality in an interesting way, I could easily turn it into a finished project to be proud of.