After getting a decent amount of feedback on the Mayan Mystery game for the last little while, one subject seemed to jump out at me; The jumping physics were too extreme.

I’ve been working on and testing the game for SO long that I don’t even notice these sort of aspects (same thing goes for how challenging a game is for people), so it came to me as a complete surprise. My goal all along though, was to make a game that anyone could play and enjoy, without feeling frustrated at something as critical as the controls!

Long story short, the players jump physics have been redone so you don’t feel like you’re getting slammed into the ground after falling off a ledge or jumping from a high distance. As well, you’re able to clear slightly wider gaps when running on land, and when you’re submerged in the water levels, you drift slowly down to the bottom. Hopefully this makes the game more engaging than enraging!

Other updates include the beginning illustrations for an introductory story when you start a new game, and the player graphics have been made more contrasty to have more depth (shadows and lightsource kind of stuff).

This demo is still a WIP, but it looks that it’s moving in the right direction!

Here’s a little collage of screenshots to check out: