Trust Issues is an innocent 2D platformer, it totally is :)
Navigate through this whimsical looking land and stomp on clowns, and slowly discover that this game is not what it seems to be...
This game was made as a school assignment project from the class of Game Genre Studies.
Game Engine: Stencyl
Project duration: 5 weeks
Solo project
Play The Game Now
Available on Itch.io
Introduction
This project is from a module called Game Genre Studies, where I am tasked to make a platformer using Stencyl. The purpose of this assignment is for us to understand what makes a platformer when all additional gimmicks and mechanics are stripped away, what would be left to still have it be considered the core identity of the genre. The development cycle starts off with creating a platformer from one of the Stencyl's website tutorials (week 1), then on each week we are required to add new features that we think would improve the game itself, as well as continuously reiterate the game until we're satisfied by week 5.
Design Process
The main inspiration of this game came from the infamous platformer called Cat Mario, or otherwise in Japanese known as “Shobon no Action”.
Just like Cat Mario, Trust Issues features frustrating elements that would kill the player character in ways that is unforeseeable to the player. With that, Trust Issues is implemented with disappearing platforms, as well as ones that appear to block you. These gimmicks/traps will be identical to the tileset, and it is placed around the levels in an unpredictable pattern so that it can catch the player by surprise.
To further increase the complexity of subversion, fake objective is also added into the game, to thwart the player’s progress and make the game even more frustrating.
Main menu of Cat Mario, aka Shobon no action