Deep Climb continues development, from vertical slice to feature finished demo! We will see the mechanics carry over with some improvements, more challenging precision platforming, and an explosion of stunning assets and effects.

Some big changes are coming to Deep Climb, shaking up the vision we started with. We found some concerns with the use of diegetic UI, half our team could feel the motion sickness coming on while the other half were focused on the aesthetics. Given more time we would love to test this decision and consider giving the option to each player, but due to the limited scope, we have decided to go with the simpler solution of a fixed UI on the HUD.

Another issue we have found through development of the vertical slice is the brutal lack of checkpoints. While this is a staple trope for precision platformers, we were concerned that our level design skill may not be enough to compensate. As such, we will be implementing an additional game mode which allows players to restart at the highest checkpoint reached, reducing the severity of failure while requiring the same precision platforming to progress.

We also found that throwing new players in the deep end when it came to the controls, environment, and platforming, made the game extremely confusing. We brainstormed solutions such as limiting the players abilities until reaching parts of the level but we worried this could impact the replayability and speedrunning potential. As such, we have decided to implement a tutorial level.

Keep an eye out for these updates appearing in future dev logs, and check out our road map for a comprehensive look at our plans going forward!