Crush The Slimes
Crush The Slimes is a game that I made back in early 2020. It originally started as an average Simon game made for one of my college courses. I later turned it into a little game where the goal is to crush as many slimes as possible before time runs out. I retained the Simon aspect by having the game choose a specific color of slime that the player can crush to get extra points, extend the time, and collect slime to use abilities. Once the specific color slime is crushed the game chooses a new color. The game features a small amount of perks and abilities that can be unlocked by leveling up and have varying, but minor, effects on gameplay.
Overview
Make a fun and cathartic experience based around crushing colorful slimes.
Create an overarching upgrade system that provided bonuses and new features to enhance the base gameplay.
Retain the color matching aspect of the original Simon game.
Goals
Godot
Engine:
Mobile
Genre:
Dev Time:
~2 Months
Team Size:
1
Additional Software:
MS Paint
Perks and Abilities that the player can equip once unlocked
Slime enemy spawning
‘Slime Jar’ system which fills when crushing slimes and allows the player to use their ability
Game Design + Scripting
Used Godot particle system for color explosion when slime is crushed
Used a combo of MS Paint and Godot features for majority of the game’s art
FX + Visuals
Challenges & Solutions
Originally if the player crushed the wrong color slime they would receive a penalty, usually in the form of subtracting time from the clock. This, however, slowed the game down and could result in extended periods of time where the player would do nothing as the proper slime wasn’t spawning.
Challenge 1:
My solution for this was to instead reward the player for crushing the correct slime instead of punishing them, so I made it when the player crushed the proper slime they would receive a larger time, score, and slime meter bonus.
Solution 1:
There was a point in development where I felt the game needed some sort of big challenge. I brainstormed some ideas. One idea was defending a town by crushing the slimes before they entered it. This idea didn’t work out as it didn’t fit well with the base game mechanics. It felt too repetitive and linear as the slimes would just be moving towards a single spot with the only real chance of failure being if the player chose to stop playing the game.
Challenge 2:
While not necessarily a solution, I eventually decided that the game didn’t need any big challenges to be fun and would work better as just a simple fun and cathartic game.