Interactables Part 1

For the last month I have been implementing a few environmental interactable elements, so I have decided to slowly introduce some of them. I will continue working on new ones, so I still don't know how many parts there will be to this entry.

Sinking Platforms

The sinking platforms here, as the name says, sink down when the player stays on top of them. The sinking and rising rates, as well as the depth they sink to, can easily be adjusted per platform. The rates I will only touch if I make a different version of the sprite, but changing the depth is something I keep changing per instance placed, basically.

The implementation itself is not difficult, but how to handle where they sink has not been the easiest. Ideally they would compress so they don't stick out somewhere else, but right now they just slide down and stick out of the ground on the stage below. Because of the level design, as well as the rising rate, this will probably be never be an issue.

I expect having to deal with this issue somehow, one day. But that's a future me problem!

Breaking Ground Tiles

These tiles are a hallmark of sidescrollers. Blocks that break once the player stands on top of them.

Nothing much to say about these. You stand on top, the animation plays, and once the last bit of ground is gone the collision disappears and you fall. The time it takes for them to come back is an exposed variable, but as with the rising platforms, I will probably only change that if I have a different sprite for it. Otherwise players could potentially be confused by the difference.

Springs

The springs have been a bit of a difficult balance. The implementation itself is easy, at least if it's just basic accelleration for the player. However it becomes a bit of a hassle when trying to balance how they work, with the level design. I will probably have a separate entry for these guys where I go about that a bit in depth.

There are straight springs, as well as diagonal springs. All of them can be rotated on 90 degree steps to account for 8 directions. The strength of the springs will vary depending, again, on the visuals. The blue ones in the example above will probably be weaker, with a new set of red ones that will be as strong as shown on the gif.

All my other interactable elements in the game are things that the player moves around, but for these the player actually gets thrown around, which changes the dynamic a bit. I will not be using them too much, but every once in a while it might feel like a good change of pace.

I have a few more interactable elements that I will introduce on other entries. But creating these simple, mostly self-contained elements is always fun so I will be adding a few more that I find interesting.