​​In summer 2024 I started developing another game prototype, having been inspired by playing the arcade version of Crossy Road during a trip to a bowling alley with my family.

 

Combining my love of medieval knights and castles, I started work on an isometric endless runner, with the player taking on the role of a knight working their way through a dungeon and trying to stay alive.

 

Targeted to mobile and desktop, I got an initial prototype working within a few days, allowing the player to tap and swipe to move a ball (the knight), left, right, backwards, forwards and also to jump forwards two places over an obstacle. The dungeon environment is generated in real-time using a small set of prefabs that are randomly selected and added to the path ahead of the player. Once a prefab is a certain distance behind the player, it is removed from the environment.

 

With a simple prototype working, I added some obstacles (brown boxes) that the player needs to walk around or jump over. I also added some hazards (red boxes), that kill the player instantly if they walk into, or jump onto them. 

 

When I had a game loop working, I decided to change the visuals from prototype to a dungeon theme. Using a great selection of low poly assets from Synty Studio, I added the player knight, floor and walls, and created some dungeon themed environment prefabs: swinging axes, moving circular saws and vertical spikes. There are also some small environments without any hazards; these are inserted into the path periodically to give the player some brief respite from navigating the hazards. The player carries a burning torch in their hand, which not only illuminates the way ahead, but also creates some lovely real-time shadows, giving an eerie dungeon look and feel, especially when the axes and saw blades move by, throwing menacing shadows around the dungeon.

 

The player's goal is to move as far forward in the dungeon as possible before they are killed. I never intended for there to be an end to the dungeon, hence the name ‘Forever Knight’. The best achieved score is saved and shown on the menu screen, before the game starts.

 

To encourage the player to continue moving forward, if they don’t make any new forward progress after a short period of time, they will be killed by the giant sword of dawdling, which drops at high speed from above, cutting the player to pieces in a splatter of red squishy visual effects (that I created). Three seconds before the sword falls, the sound effect of a sword being withdrawn from its scabbard can be heard, encouraging the player to move forward or be killed. If the player still doesn't make forward progress after the sound effect is played, the upper part of the screen starts to flash red, urging the player to make progress.

 

When the game starts, the sword of dawdling timer does not begin until the player has crossed the start line a few spaces ahead, denoted by a partial row of skeletons. As the player reaches the start line, the score changes from showing the best score to zero, and the music begins to play. This breathing space before the start line gives new players an opportunity to try out the movement controls before the game starts in earnest.

 

Along the way the player has the opportunity to collect coins and gem stones while avoiding hazards. These can’t be exchanged for anything in the game at the moment, but they were intended for a future addition not yet developed. My idea was for there to be monsters that block your path in parts of the dungeon. If you move next to a monster, the sword of dawdling would briefly stop during this encounter, where you could either attempt to bribe the monster to let you pass, or you might have to fight to the death. In a battle, either the player dies or the monster dies, and if the latter, the player is rewarded with a weapon or armour upgrade that would assist during the next monster encounter.

 

When the game launches for the first time (or after the reset button is selected), the player is shown a quick and simple introduction to the movement controls. There are a selection of different input controls for the player to choose from, using taps and swipes on the screen, or more traditional UI arrow buttons.

 

Before a game starts, short hints and tips are shown on screen. These change after a few seconds, or can be tapped on to show the next hint. Players can change the difficulty between easy, medium and hard, which changes the speed of moving hazards, and also the duration before the sword of dawdling appears.

 

Sound effects are used to give feedback when moving and jumping, collecting coins and gems, and a horn sound can be heard the first time a new best distance is achieved during a game.

 

Having enjoyed what I’d created during the five months I worked on it (using URP, Shader Graph, Visual Effect Graph and Cinemachine), I decided that I wanted to explore other game ideas. I stopped work on the development at the end of 2024.