Gimmick is a hack I started last year around this time, although the purpose of it is rather strange. Oftentimes, I'll get urges to design random levels that don't really have particular themes and/or couldn't really fit in a "plot" driven hack. Not only that, but I've also wanted to design some levels which are very different from your standard themed stuff.
Worlds
Five worlds are planned with five levels each, bringing the total level count to 25. They will be able to be done in any order. The themes are:
-City/Techno
-Abstract
-Desert/Mine
-Oriental
-Ice/Space
Keep in mind that for the more common themes such as desert/ice, there will still be crazy stuff to throw you off (see the video titled "The Starspire" further below).
Here are two of the maps, graciously drawn by Supertails. I've marked black Xs where the levels will be on a separate version of them.
Levels
Around 8 of my 25 planned levels have been completed. Although I do not have screenshots/videos prepared for all of them, I do have a few to show off:
"Lithic Ruins"
The first stage of the desert world.
"The Starspire"
The second stage of the desert world. This is merely a small taste of the level.
"Shiro Woods"
The first stage of the oriental world.
"Pectoris City"
The first stage of the city world.
"Pyra Mechalot", the fifth and final stage of the desert world.
This is an example of a "GIMMICK" room in my hack. In each level, you'll collect seven letters to spell out the word "GIMMICK". If you collect them all, you can access a door at the end of the stage which contains a small challenge reusing every trick the stage had to offer. This is an example of "Pyra Mechalot"'s room, in which you much reach the end of an autoscrolling segment while bouncing up and down on the sprite at the bottom there. All of these rooms also have that abstract layer 3 background to add to the surrealism of them.
"Mt. Seishun", the second stage of the oriental world. Although this is my most WIP stage, I have the concept planned out. You will be rebuilding broken line guides by physically throwing pieces of the track (keys for now until I redraw them) into the main guide.
Aesthetics:
I don't like using stuff from other games, if I can help it .. or if I do, I make sure they are obscure enough to not be overused. In all of the screenshots/videos above, I have composed and ported all of the music myself, as well as drawn most of the graphics (Lithic Ruins, The Starspire, Pyra Mechalot, others not shown). The graphics that WEREN'T drawn by me are custom sets drawn by others.
Although I have shown most of my music for this hack before, I'll pull out a few of my favorites that I have done to showcase here.
"Title Screen"
"The Astralarium"
"Synchron Mine"
"The Starspire"
"Mt. Seishun"
Summary of Features:
-25 varied levels spanning 5 worlds.
-A clock system which saves your best time in a level. Great for TASers or those who like to see how fast they can get through a stage.
-A fully custom set of aesthetics, ensuring nothing is ever reused.
-Collectible items, bonus rooms, and other things to add a replay value.
I believe that's everything for now. I do have a demo of sorts planned for when I have about half of the levels completed, so I suppose that is something to look forward to. Thanks for visiting this thread, and I do hope you'll offer some thoughts, questions, and feedback!
