Hello Everyone!
I’ve been streaming every week over at our Twitch channel playing some of the wonderful games on our platform which gave me an idea. I thought it would be great to highlight some of these games and the designers who have worked on them. I come from a game design background, and make game analysis videos on my own time, so this was a natural fit for me! First up is Weaponeer by PLUG_WORLD.
Weaponeer is one of my favorite games on VoxPop because of how good it feels to play. It’s simple to say that a game “feels good” or “natural” to play, but PLUG_WORLD really brings that saying to a whole new level in his game. Weaponeer is a game that was aimed at being accessible to anyone who picks it up, even going as far as to partner with Able Gamers when publishing the game. Weaponeer only used the arrow keys, yet still allows the player to have immense control over their character.
The player plays as Weaponeer, a circle holding a sword above his head. When the player moves left, the sword will rotate to the left of the player and vice versa. Not pressing any button will bring the sword back to its original position. The amount of options this allows the player to have is monumental. Going right and then returning to neutral will create a swiping motion, allowing the player to hit enemies above them. It’s extremely elegant, allowing for maximum control with the least amount of inputs.
In addition to the great controls, PLUG_WORLD absolutely kills it in terms of level design. The difficulty scale is just right, as the game challenges you without ever feeling unfair. Respawns are extremely quick as well, allowing for quick retries. Levels don’t feel just like platformers, they also feel like puzzles. Beating a level in Weaponeer isn’t as straightforward as overcoming a platforming obstacle, it’s more about finding a way to get your character to the end of the level.
The last thing I want to bring up about Weaponeer is its artwork. It uses minimalism to its advantage. Since the game only uses two colors, the colors of the game can easily be swapped out. Thus, the hidden items found around levels are color palette swaps. It allows the game to feel fresh as you get toward the harder levels. If you really get stuck on a level, swapping the color palette out will make it feel somewhat fresh again.
Overall, Weaponeer has been one of the most rewarding experiences on VoxPop thus far, and I look forward to what PLUG_WORLD creates in the future!
Check Weaponeer out here: https://www.voxpopgames.site/store/280
-Connor