Quick
Statistics
|
| Working
Title: |
Skybound |
| In |
Preproduction |
| Author: |
Christopher
L. Canfield |
| Target Machine:
|
Game Boy Advance |
| Game Type: |
Sports
Skydiving |
| Inception: |
2001 |
| Estimated
Development Time: |
9
Months |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
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Based on the Skydiving sequence from the SNES game Pilotwings,
Skybound would be a low-tech skydiving game based around the scaling,
rotating sprites and 2 mode-7 playfields of the Game Boy Advance
to create the sensation of falling through a progressive level,
closer and closer to the inevitable ground. Players would dodge
metal beams and enemies, collect power-ups, and shoot to interact
with the constantly flowing terrain (turn off fans, etc).
Sample levels
Level Structure:
The levels in Skybound are broken down into different "tiers."
Tier Three contains three levels, Tier two contains two, and Tier
One contains only one. The player can play any level on his or her
current tier, and any of the previous tiers. The overarching goal
is to collect all of the Trebles in a level, cute little creatures
that multiply very quickly and must be stopped, and avoid all of
the Maluvians who are trying to stop you.
Tier three levels include:
Blue Sky
Difficulty: *
Jump out of a helicopter and into the wild blue yonder. This level
features free-floating trails of Trebles, Maluvians, floating platforms
in the sky, reward cash, and many pretty cloud banks. Blue Sky is
a training level more than anything else, allowing the player to
get acquainted with the controls and mechanics in an almost non-threatening
environment, and earn enough cash to buy their first upgrade
Moon
Difficulty: *
Jump down through the Space station to the moon below while collecting
Trebles from this, the source of the outbreak. Gameplay areas include:
giant rotating sail fans, exposed girders, vertical teleporters,
swiss-cheese like building patterns. This level is still very easy
Ground construction
Difficulty: **
Ground construction opens up the intensity a little as the player
is launched out of a roof-mounted cannon, to fall back down through
an exposed-girder construction building. With frequent patterned
cross beams and lots of hidden Trebles, the player will need a pretty
good grasp of the handling to make it through the first section
in one piece.
The second area of the level actually takes the player underground.
Passing through a narrow pixel-based tunnel of dirt, the player
emerges into an underground sky-falling sequence with far more bonuses
than problems, eventually splashing down into an underground lake.
Tier two levels include
Skyscraper
Difficulty: ***
The skyscraper level starts with a nice arial of a city, with the
top of a skyscraper scrolling into view. Our hero jumps out of a
helicopter (off camera), and into a shaft at the top
This level is very intense and tunnel-oriented, containing an elevator
shaft sequence, an open mall area, pipes, interior construction
girders, and a parking lot.
Tier one level
Re-Entry
Difficulty: ****
Here we go, the most intense level of them all. We start at a deceptively
quiet space station fall over earth, leading quickly into re-entry,
then sky, girders, and finally into an underground sequence. This
area is brutal and fast, with no punches pulled. While other levels
should be timed for 5 minute runs, this should be twice as long
as all other levels.
Upgrades:
Players earning enough cash can add special equipment / abilities.
All abilities use the power meter, which refills over time. Two
abilities can be worn at a time, which the player can map to the
L/R buttons at will. Included are:
Jet boost - Turn on the power for short pushes in the right direction.
Teleport - Jump back up several hundred meters.
Streamer - A relatively low-tech and cheap way to slow your descent
for short periods of time.
Iron Ball - Wrap yourself in a heavy, impervious shell for a quick
and brutal fall. You are fast and invincible, but good luck getting
any items. You strafe to steer.
Super Bomb - Clear several hundred meters ahead of obstructions
and enemies. Items and Trebles can stay around.
Net - Only useful for multiplayer, the net sends a large mass of
webbing hurling down towards the nearest opponent. When netted,
the opponent cannot move their character, and is slowed down.
Items:
Additionally, the following items can be found in the game.
Health-up - restores one unit of health
Power-up - restores some of your power bar
Heart container - adds one container for health storage
Piece of power bar - adds one section to your power bar
Teleporter - travel up several hundred meters. Useful for getting
Trebles.
Bomb - clear the screen and several hundred feet afterwards of
all obstructions and Maluvians. Breathing room.
Balloon - Catch a break from the pressure. An individual balloon
will slow you down a little, but you can keep adding up to three
to slow you down quite a lot.
Multiplayer
There is a hybrid competitive / cooperative 4-player race mode.
Each player must pick one of four characters (duplicates handled
with a palette swap), and everyone plays together. The person with
the fastest time, wins. The winner gets a boost to their (otherwise
unused) ranking, a trophy for their case, and all of the Trebles
that were collected counting towards their single-player game. Second
and Third players both get appropriate trophies, slight ranking
boosts, and whatever they collected plus whatever was collected
by those who came in after them. The last place person just gets
what they collected. The winner can alternatively give all of the
Trebles to one of the other players, and accept that player's prize
instead.
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