A Shocktopus History – Part 2

November 15, 2016

(The Electric Shocktopus is coming to Steam on November 30th, so I figured it was a good time for a history lesson. To learn about the first inspirations for this electromagnetic game, see the first part of this series.)

We left off last time with the first playable (by me, at least) prototype of The Electric Shocktopus, called, at the time, Magnetoad.

Puns and animals in my titles.  Guess I can’t resist ’em.

Pinning Down the Theme

I knew Magnetoad wouldn’t last forever as a title.  What other characters would you expect to hop around and hold on to walls?  Perhaps, a Monkey?

That was the working title (and title screen) of the game for a month or so.  I had sprites (a cute little running monkey), and bananas for the monkey to pick up.  It was on its way.  But, there were two problems.  I wasn’t a big fan of the title.  Where’s the pun?  Who would recognize the game as being about electromagnetism?  Bah.  And second, as someone pointed out to me – not knowing I was working on this game yet – “Monkeys are so cliche.  Every game is about monkeys!”

Uh-oh.

It was moments after that interaction that the title of the game came to me.  In one glorious pun.  It was time to throw out all that art, because I was working on The Electric Shocktopus!

He looks kinda like a hand with eyes.

And by March 2013, the game’s title and theme were set.  Except for a few assets here and there that needed to be replaced… (unless octopuses like bananas, maybe?)

With some punching up, by May 2013, the game had a bunch of levels, new art, and was being playtested left and right.

Recognize this level? (May 2013)

The level pictured above made it into the final version of the game, in fact.

Recognize this level? (November 2016)

Do you notice the difference between those two images?  Yes, yes, the second one looks a *whole*lot*better*, sure.  But there’s another difference perhaps even more important, lurking in the physics.

(Tune in next time to discover how the physics simulation of the game has had to change over time…)

-Andy