PogoGirl Devlog #26: Shwing!

Okay, so we got rotating platforms in the game. What’s the next logical step? I don’t actually know, but I added swinging platforms next!

I’ve always been a fan of these ever since I saw them in the original Sonic the Hedgehog, so a year or so back, I looked up the math at making them work. I don’t actually remember where I got the math from, but I recently managed to dig up my old notes and use them to add these swinging platforms to Go! Go! PogoGirl. You might remember that I had some trouble with rotating platforms, but I’m happy to say that the swinging variety gave me much less of an issue!

And no, I don’t understand the math behind them, I just copy-paste the code and fiddle around until things work okay. Eventually I’ll get around to actually understanding this stuff, I promise. Or maybe I won’t, I dunno.

Anyway, once I had the swinging platforms in there, I decided to exploit that code a bit more and also add a swinging obstacle. My mind immediately went to a checker-patterned brown ball for some strange and definitely non-copyright-infringing reason, but I decided against that. Instead, I made it a spiky affair to better illustrate that yes, this thing hurts:

Physics-like objects like this always spruce up a platformer I find, so I’m glad I managed to put them in Go! Go! PogoGirl. However, I also think that with the constant pogo-bouncing, these obstacles provide an even bigger challenge than usual, since you’ll have to get the timing just right if you want to ride the platform or avoid the spikes. I naturally tried striking a balance to make it tricky but not too hard, and I guess I’ll see how that worked out.

But either way, I’m happy to see some more movement in the game’s levels. It’s not like I thought the game felt too static or anything, but having big, moving things in games can make them a lot more fun, see the Dead or Alive games.

See you next time!

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