Razorlocks Update – Mini Trials
Here’s a quick look at a few new mini trial challenges in Razorlocks. These timed obstacle courses are going to be the main objective while exploring a level alongside races and airtime challenges. I’m confident that this level design philosophy is the right direction for the game following recent positive feedback from an in-person indie playtest event.
For the most part the time limits on the mini trials were reasonable and players learned quicker than I expected. The race against Doublelocks was an appropriate difficulty, if not a little too easy. Players had difficulty winning the airtime challenge until they were able to optimally hit multiplier triggers which then made things too easy. I feel the mode in general is a bit one-dimensional and I have some ideas to shake it up.
Future Plans
Overall I’m excited about the future for the game and I really want to publish the Steam page for the game next year regardless of the state it’s in. I will likely deliver incremental builds there as the game is developed and hopefully that can drive traffic. I probably won’t do early access since it adds pressure I don’t want to deal with. This way I can continue to chip away at the game while allowing potential buyers to more closely track progress and provide feedback.
One tweak I’ve made to the core gameplay is making the dive ability function like the dash but vertical, instead of forcing the player to go all the way to the ground then dash. This makes it much more useful for quickly moving downward to grab collectibles without overshooting.
I also have nailed down a solid roadmap for levels that I feel is realistic for me to accomplish:
- 1 hub level
- 3 main levels, akin to Runner’s Ridge
- 3 boss race levels
- 9 sub levels, like the old linear pre-alpha levels
- 1 finale gauntlet level
The game will be short but sweet, with great potential for speedrunning but not at the expense of the casual playthrough experience.
Lastly I will be hiring professionals to handle the audio side of things so that will be greatly improved within the next year, roughly. The mini trial video above features the last piece of music I was working on for the game that will end up unused, but it’s for the best. Over the years I’ve warmed up to allowing others to take part in the process and not try to do absolutely everything alone.