Main features implemented so far:

• Tight, responsive controls

• Juicy scoring combos inspired by Balatro

• Smooth camera that follows the player fluidly

• Simple but challenging mechanics: easy to learn, hard to master

• Polished animations for movement, jumping, and falling

• Particle effects when enemies or the player die

What I’m planning to add next:

• Satisfying sound effects

• Music

• 2–3 new enemy types

• A start menu, game over screen, and local highscore system

• Improved level assets and better models

What happened to my previous game:

Last week I decided to pivot away from my original hyper-casual mobile game and start something more grounded, something with a stronger core gameplay loop that I actually enjoyed. The original idea was a dice-based system: you'd roll dice, assign them to your character's stats (to buff them), and then go play levels. It sounded promising and pretty unique (I hadn’t seen that kind of mechanic in a digital game before)... But honestly, it didn’t take long before I ran into some pretty frustrating issues. Managing the dice through UI wasn’t fun, animating the dice roll in 2D was awkward, and trying to make the game look cool with a neon theme just felt like unnecessary extra work. Even after fixing most of these problems, the game still didn’t feel right. The dice mechanic and the level gameplay felt like two completely separate ideas that had just been glued together. Worst of all, the core gameplay loop wasn’t engaging, it was repetitive, slow, and lacked real challenge. Most of the time, the player was just circling around enemies without much tension.

So, I scrapped it. I decided to start fresh and focus on a game that felt fun from the start. After all, this project was supposed to be a hyper-casual game for a college assignment (and the old version had already drifted way too far from that). Starting over was tough, but 100% worth it. I finally landed on a simple idea that actually feels good to play: jumping from enemy to enemy without touching the ground, building up longer and longer combos as you improve. It’s simple, but it works. And more importantly, it’s fun. I spent a lot of time polishing the controls, the player movement, the camera, and the animations ... And even at this early stage, I genuinely enjoy playing it. That, to me, is one of the best signs you can get when making a new game. So yeah, this new project has been a great experience so far, and I’m really excited to keep building it.