Frog Snatchers

Overview

This page represents a product currently in development.

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A lighthearted Metroidvania featuring satisfying combat, a large, interconnected world, and plenty of eccentric and interesting NPCs.

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Project Type: Team

Platform: PC

Timeframe: January - May 2018, may be continued.

Position: Narrative and Level Designer

Tools Used: Unity

Website, including team information: https://www.tootiredstudios.com/frogsnatchers/

A Storied Game

     I came onto Frog Snatchers halfway through development as a Narrative and Level Designer. That meant that I had to adapt my abilities and ideas to what was already established in the game.

     As a narrative designer, a big job of mine was to write a ton of interesting and funny NPCs. I had to make sure they fit the style of the game, but were still unique.

     I also had to finalize an actual overarching narrative with my fellow narrative designer, Amos Byrne, who joined the same time I did. Working together, we managed to give a reason to everything you and the antagonist do in the game.

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     The NPCs are important to the game, because the narrative focus of the game is more on funny and interesting smaller interactions with the inhabitants of this world we had created than on a big, overarching story. They needed to help make the world feel alive, and make the player look forwards to finding new characters to interact with. 

Jumping Around in Neon Pompeii

     In terms of Level Design, I was in charge of the area known as Neon Pompeii, with the assistance of Lucas Charland, a fellow designer. Neon Pompeii is a vibrant, neon cityscape run by a bunch of mobsters. The area is very vertical, and contains heavily projectile based enemies, creating an interesting dynamic of having to avoid bullets while at the same time, watching your footing.

     The lower section of the city is designed for the player to relax a bit after the boss of the sewers, talk to some NPCs, and learn the basics of how the new area works. There aren't even any enemies in the first two rooms. The alleyway between the two main sections of city was designed to introduce the player to the Bug enemy and the Rocket Cat enemy. The Bug enemy crawls around on an upper platform, out of the way of the player. This allows them to observe it without having to interact with it. The Rocket Cats, on the other hand, block your way forwards, and must be defeated or avoided. There's only one on the top route, making it simple enough fro the first encounter. If the player feels confident in their ability to deal with the Rocket Cat, a frog is guarded by three of them. The second half of the main city features not only rocket cats and platforming, but also introduces the Large Cat and Acrobatic Mobsters. Both are isolated from other enemies, allowing the player to learn about them in peace. The last room on the lower section of the map is where the player learns how to do the Stab Special. There is a frog hidden behind some enemies you can dash through, but more importantly, the player cannot advance until they learn how to super off of disco balls. These disco balls appeared earlier in the level, but now the player has the means to interact with them. The Player can either continue on, or backtrack to where they saw the disco balls before and gain access to new areas containing frogs, and a shortcut.

     The second area of the level climbs up the side of the second half of the city. Each room in this City's Edge connects back to the main city, opening up new possibilities and challenge areas. This section of the level is designed to teach the player how to deal with enemies while on precarious footing, without punishing the player to much if they die.

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     The third section of the area takes place in the skies above the city, and was primarily designed by Lucas. The area features intense combat with very limited footing, and a tough fall should you fail. This area leads to the level boss, Capravola. Capravola is a flying goat-demon that is only really vulnerable while charging his attacks. The stage also scrolls, so players need to stay on their toes.

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     In addition to the main level, I also designed all of the Challenge sections. These sections are off the beaten path, and challenge the player to prove they have mastered the abilities given to them. These sections reward the player with more frogs to add to their collection. The challenge sections can be divided into two different challenges: The Stab Special Challenges, and the Dash Challenges.

     The Stab Special Challenges take place in the upper reaches of the main city, and require the player to use the Stab Super to jump around on high-up platforms. Some of the harder challenges require the player to chain multiple Stab Supers together.

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     The Dash Challenges take place in the sky, and require the player to master large horizontal movement without the aid of disco balls. Later in the challenge, the player will have to chain jumps, dashes and stab supers together in long chains to reach the final frog. 

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     One thing about these challenges is that I designed them to scale differently based on how many abilities the player has. The Stab Special Challenges are pretty hard if you go right to them after getting the Stab Special, but much easier if you come back with the Dash. That way, if a player finds the challenge to hard, they can simply come back later and get the frogs without having to deal with the frustration of failing over and over. The Dash Challenges are designed the same way; coming back when you have the Glide Special makes things much easier.