Prison Break : The Real Story
Gamejam : GMTK2021 (2021)
Theme : Linked togetherDuration : 48h
Two games developers and a sound designer
Prison Break is a vertical scrolling game in which the players moves two characters linked together by a chain. Based on the series fiction, the player plays the characters of Michael and Lincoln, two brothers whose objectif is simple : escape from law enforcement!
Goals and Challenges
On his way, the player will have to avoid obstacles while eliminating targets using the rope. By being able to move only along the horizontal axis, he must anticipate his movements and show speed.
What have I learned ?
In Prison Break, we thought more about level design in order to offer a more stimulating experience for the player. By choosing to achieve our own levels, and not to create random levels (as in most scrollings games), we made sure to keep the player focus by offering him challenges in coincidence with the developed skills. By doing this, the player will not be bothered by a lack of challenge, nor anxious by a too large difficulty of the game. This game design principle is explained by the curve interest.
Picture 1 : Interest curve
The other interest of not using random generated-level is to create meaningfull situations in which the player will have to choose between several options. His choices and actions will then affect his run, giving him the satisfaction of being the only master of his destinity. Moreover, we were careful not to create "impossible" situations that would give the impression that the game is "unfair". It's important that if the player dies, it's not the game fault, but of his.
Finally, this game doesn't use a lot of mechanics, except the horizontal movement and the elimination with the rope. Since the fun part of the game is the elimination of enemies, we paid special attention to its gamefeel. By using of screenshakes, blood particles and sound effects, we tried to make as fun as we can this mechanic to encourage player to eliminate as many opponents as possible.