Character Controller Design

Challenge

Shellycoat is meant to be played by a child / young adult and their grandparent. This intergenerational experience requires a nuanced approach. The narrative is targeted to the grandparent, while the gameplay is targeted to the child. It has to be

• Playable, fun, and challenging to a digitally native kid
• Enjoyable and understandable to watch for a person from older generations.

Solution

After toying with a simpler input system, I expanded the input and associated level design requirements to the following:

• South button / Spacebar: Jump
• Right Trigger / Left Mouse Button: Dash
• Left Trigger / Left Shift: Stomp / Slide

Jumping onto walls results in an automatic wallrun, which can be jumped out of. Dashing or stomping onto surfaces can “trigger” special environmental shifts required to advance levels. Hold Stomp on slanted surfaces allows one to slide.

This setup fulfilled our criteria above successfully with our testing groups.