website/content/features.md

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The following are the game's current features and its planned features before the game leaves "alpha" status.

Sketchy Maze is a "Forever Project"

I have a list of features I really want for the "1.0" launch of the game, but I'll plan on continuing development for as long as I find it interesting and will release free updates to everybody who buys the game just once.

I've always wanted to make a videogame, and always liked to learn about game design and everything, but never actually made anything worthwhile until Sketchy Maze. Over time, I realized that I don't actually want to build "a video game," what I wanted was a game project. Something I could just work on and add features to, more of a game "platform," something long-term like Minecraft.

This page describes the initial set of features planned for the 1.0 and some ideas I have kicking around further down the road if all goes well.

1.0 Features

The expected feature list for the "1.0" version of the game, and how far along I am.

Level & Doodad Editor

The level editor should include basic drawing tools:

• Features:
  • Easily switch between Play Mode and Edit Mode to test your level.
  • Draw your own pixels anywhere you want.
    • Should be pixel-perfect collision detection, though Boy has a hitbox that could use some trimming.
  • Editable Palette to add and modify colors.
• Drawing tools:
  • Freehand
  • Line
  • Rectangle
  • Ellipse
  • Eraser
  • Undo/Redo
  • Zoom In/Out (--experimental)
• Level Sizes:
  • Bounded levels (0,0 to 2550,3300)
  • Custom width/height for Bounded (just needs UI work)
  • No Negative Space: infinitely big levels which still have a top-left corner bounded at (0,0)
  • Unbounded: infinitely large levels with no corners.
  • Bordered: a bounded level where the top and left decorations wrap around on the bottom and right sides too.
• Wallpaper Themes:
  • Notebook: standard blue ruled notebook paper.
  • Blueprint: dark blueprint paper.
  • Legal pad: yellow legal pad with blue and red lines.
  • Blank sheet: a texture of a blank white sheet of paper.
  • Grid paper: a white page with grid pattern.
  • Pure white: just a solid white background with no texture.
  • Placemat: a wavy pattern meant to decorate all four sides of a Bordered map.
  • Custom Wallpaper: users will be able to bundle a custom wallpaper texture inside their level file.
• Doodad Editor:

Doodads Editor

Single Player Campaign

The game is expected to come with a series of proper levels built-in which are played in sequence and has some kind of interconnected story or something. Currently you get some tutorial levels.

• Single Player Campaign:

• Polish:

  • The platforming physics will be better. Currently the character gets stick walking up sloped surfaces, especially moving Left (but not as much moving Right).

• Checkbox?

Current Doodads

The current list of doodads built-in with the game can be found in the guidebook. For the exhaustive list so far, we have:

• Bird: a red bird that flies back and forth and can be ridden on.
• Button: sends a power on/off signal to a linked doodad.
• Colored Doors & Keys: four pairs of locks and matching keys.
• Crumbly Floor: a break-away floor.
• Electric Door: a closed door that only opens when it's powered.
• Red Azulian: test mob.
• Small Key Doors: locked doors and keys that are consumed each time a door is unlocked.
• Start & End Flags: set the player spawn point and level goal.
• State Blocks: blue and orange blocks that toggle from solid to passable.
• State Button: on/off switch that globally toggles state blocks.
• Switches: toggle electric doors open or closed or provide power on/off to other doodads.
• Trapdoors: one-way passages (all four directions).
• Warp Doors: for fast travel around the map between any two linked Warp Doors.
• Warp Doors (Blue & Orange): boolean state versions of Warp Doors, which may only be entered while the door is active.

Some hidden doodads that you can activate with cheat codes, but which don't do very much because they were for the player character:

• Boy: the player character in a blue hoodie.
• Blue Azulian: the original placeholder character, a blue version of the Red Azulian.

(For that cheat code, try entering "boolProp showAllDoodads true" into the developer console before opening the Level Editor, and they will be available in the Doodads palette with the others).