Worried Walter

Worried Walter is a speedrunning platformer with the goal of finding Walters missing ring and returning it back home. Created for my dissertation, Worried Walter was designed as a speedrunning platformer that could support feature integration after each run was completed. Worried Walter is a fast-paced platformer with a heavy emphasis on stamina management.

Implemented Features:

Below you'll find a list of implemented features with a short description on how they worked in this game compared to Sewer Escape and Crazy Tractor.

1. Post Processing - Providing more depth with a parallax background and general colour tweaks, this addition completely changes the feel of the game: seperating the player from the background.

2. Smooth Lerping - Adds a complete overhaul to the camera system, allowing each player more time to focus on their jumps and also smoothing the overall experience of the game.

3. Screen Shake - Adding screen shake once damage has been taken and when using a bounce pad.

4. Particle Effects - Adding some extra visual flare to the levels with fog and walking dust.

5. Object Flashing - Flashing the player red for a set duration after hit.

6. Squash and Stretch - Squashing the bounce pads once jumped on.

7. Reactive Animaitons - Animating the player so he looks like hes running and jumping.

Gameplay:

Worried Walter, although simple in design, feels like a very complicated platformer. The aim of the game is to find the giant ring and return it back to the start of the level. In doing so, Walter must jump over spikes and on bounce pads to reach his goal while also maintining stamina. The stamina integration was implemented specifically to challenge and pace the game. Without it, the players could run from A to B without enjoying any of the newly implemented features. In the initial build of the game, jumping reduced stamina but each playtester felt like this addition was far too harsh and was later removed for the final cut.

Graphics:

Worried walter uses the exact same graphics as Sewer Escape but in a different context. The same tilemap is present here but is used in the traditional 2D sense. WHen comparing the two, its very difficult to notice they're both the same. These assets were initially designed in Aseprite and then put together in Unity as a 2D tilemap. Through the use of a perspective camera, we can create a beautifull parallax effect by moving one of the tilemap layers back slightly from the original. This is what made this game stand out form the rest.

Additional Details:

• Creation Date: Apr 4, 2023

• Project Type: Dissertation Project

• Development Tools: Unity Game Engine, Visual Studio with C#, Aseprite