Because Opac's Journey is an exploratory platformer, Opac's acrobatic abilities become central to the game. The gameplay is focused on navigation of the caves (not bopping enemies on the head or avoiding spikes) so extra care has been put on providing the player a fun set of slick abilities to master.Per a previous post, you know that one of Opac's other six abilities is gliding. In the screenshot to the left you can see that Opac can also learn to bound from walls. But this isn't your typical wall jump.
I've often found the standard wall jump to be a little unsatisfying. It's usually limited to quick upward bounding that needs to be timed perfectly and can feel more a forced hindrance than a fun ability. So when conceiving the wall jump for Opac, I wanted to be sure that players felt empowered and in full control.
Referring back to the title of this post, it's more than a wall jump. Opac actually gains the ability to grip walls at will using either trigger on the controller. So leaping from a tall ledge, players can aim for an opposing wall, easily gripping it to avoid falling and then planning their next move. Opac can then leap from the wall directly into a glide allowing for controlled upward or downward bounding. And last, [a skilled and thorough] Opac can upgrade his wall gripping ability to allow him to wall climb directly up a wall face.
If you think this sounds like it makes the cave navigation too easy, wait until you see the caves.
That sounds very exciting. I look forward to seeing this wall climbing in action. As i like you have mostly felt that wall climbing, or clinging is a bit awkward in so many titles. Though there are a few that do it very well.
ReplyDeleteVoodooChief