PogoGirl Devlog #9: Making Enemies

Posted November 30, 2020

After all the shader shenanigans I needed a break and decided to work on something less technical and more gameplay-related: Enemies!

Two new enemy types have entered PogoGirl’s rogues gallery, and I wanted to give you a quick peek at them. First up is the Bouncer!

bouncer.gif
Yes, the HUD is still borked

If you have a protagonist that’s bouncing, I guess it only makes sense to also have enemies that can bounce. While such an enemy pattern can already be tricky in a regular platformer, it gets even trickier when you yourself can’t stop bouncing! Fortunately, these enemies won’t bounce quite as high as you, so it won’t be too difficult to bop them on the head. However, if you manage to hit them when they’re at the peak of their bounce, you might fly high enough to bypass a tricky platforming section or two!

The second baddie I’ve implemented is the Flyer. I am very creative with names, I know. This little guy somehow managed to snag a helicopter chair:

flyer.png

Luckily it’s a simple model, so it can only fly back and forth. You’d better watch out though, because you’ll have to bounce either above or underneath him, otherwise you’ll get a face full of propeller! And if you’re really skilled, you might be able to bounce off these enemies to reach some very high, hidden areas…

It’s fun to come up with enemy types, but it can also be surprisingly challenging. Not only do the enemies need to be easily distinguishable so that players can immediately tell what they’re dealing with; they also have to complement the game’s mechanics, or at least that’s my take on it. Having enemies be nothing more than interactive obstacles is perfectly fine, but I try to take it a step further if I can. Since Go! Go! PogoGirl is about bouncing, and therefore about verticality to a certain extent, it made sense for me to create enemies that let you bounce higher if you’re skillful enough. You don’t have to do it, but if you can pull it off, you might be able to save some time or even find a hidden area!

But anyway, that’s it for this update. Be excellent to each other and party on, dudes!

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