Postmortem- Alternate Path (Part 1)
Hey all, it’s F1ak3r, one of the RoboSquid people who volunteered to write stuff for this, and, coincidentally, the guy who made Alternate Path, which was reviewed in the post preceding this one.
Seeing as so many people like Alternate Path so much, I decided to give a bit of inside information on its development, tell you all why I did certain things, and suchlike. Without further padding, here’s the piece of my brain I’m offering to you:
WARNING: If you don’t want the game spoiled for you, download it from this page, and finish it before reading further. It’s not that difficult, or that long. If you get stuck, the answer is “gun”. =P
Alternate Path was an idea in my head long before I even created the source file or drew any of the horrendously complex and beautifully shaded graphics. Of course, it was vague back then, and looked very different in my head.
The basic concept was this: “What if you had this game that started out like a run-of-the-mill platformer/arcade game, and then, within the first few minutes of play, became something much less conventional, and much more confusing? Wouldn’t that be a cool way to fool the player?”
I don’t know that I pulled off that idea too wonderfully in Alternate Path (even the name, Alternate Path, gives away the game’s “secret”), but I wanted people to actually download the thing. And besides, it became more than a simple way of punking arbitrary people on the Internet as I got down to making it.
LEVEL 1 - Level 1 was the most straightforward level, and featured dull, cliched gameplay, just as I had intended. The only real purpose of Level 1 was to slide the player into the game smoothly, as plonking them down in Level 2 would’ve scared them.
LEVEL 2 - I can’t really call Level 2 a level. It was more of an interactive cut-scene, which basically gave the player a taste of the AntiPlayer’s attitude, and introduced the higher jump, the first of many ability upgrades.
Ability upgrades were an important part of Alternate Path. I planned to put more in (double-jumping, wall climbing, running), but there wasn’t any need for them. Perhaps they’ll appear in the sequel…
LEVEL 3 - At last, the first actual puzzle, and definitely one of my favourites. I feel the saving puzzle really embodies the game’s spirit (the spirit of taking conventional gameplay mechanics and conventions, and turning them on their heads). In retrospect, the “You don’t need to save now.” messages, great portrayers of the AntiPlayer’s personality though they were, made things a little easy. But maybe I’m just being silly.
They say you should always leave your audience wanting more. Which is why this is a two-part article. That, and I’m embarrassed about the mess that is level 4. Hehe…
I’ll see you tomorrow for my thoughts on the rest of the levels, and some general conclusions! Maybe I’ll even give you a taste of my ideas for the sequel, provided you’re a good little boy/girl/other and eat all your veggies. Maybe…
Keep on alternating your paths,
F1ak3r