Launching Limbs in a 2D platformer game where the player takes control of a robot within an abandoned mineshaft. Players can sacrifice their limbs in order to traverse through levels or find an easier path that allows them to keep more levels.
Over the seven days that Launching Limbs was in development, I was the programmer in charge of the games UI. The main elements of the UI within the game was two versions of the Main Menu and its submenus, alongside the player’s pause menu. The difference between the two main menus is the inclusion of a “Level Select” screen that became available to the player after completing the game once, allowing them to play through any levels that they may have missed.
I also created simple environmental hazards that would impede the player’s progress throughout the level. These environmental hazards included stalactites and stalagmites. Stalactites would kill the player if they walked or fell into them while stalagmite would fall from the ceiling when the player entered a trigger box set within the level. Upon dying, levels would not reset, instead the player’s original robot would lie “dead” on the ground and would remain in the world until the player reset the level through either the pause menus “Restart” button or if the level was relaunched from the main menu.
Within each level, we wanted to add lore piece that the player could stumble upon, to have the game feel a bit more alive in the lonely space. With the exception of the final level, each level has a fallen robot who had previously been within the mines players find themselves trying to escape. Players can walk up to these robots and read their final diagnostic report alongside a final log.
Launching Limbs
Programmer | Jingle Jammers
Project Info
Team Size: 8
Time Frame: 7 Days
Engine: Unreal Engine 5.4 (Blueprints)