One last minute addition to Savanna Sam: a dedicated tutorial level!
Until now, the game already would show you what controls you need in order to play the game. However, the tutorial level gives a little bit more space to test out the controls before throwing you into the deep end.
Neat detail: The tutorial level is the first “endless” level I have added to the game.
All story levels up until now have been built in the editor and will always follow the same path. However, since I don’t know how many attempts a player needs before they successfully collect the respective item, I have added a mechanic where a level will just dynamically repeat certain chunks and objects.
Right now, this technique is only being used in the tutorial.
But it opens up the possibility of adding actual endless arcade levels, where the player doesn’t have to reach the end of the level but try to survive as long as possible, with the level getting harder and harder the longer it continues.
That will be considerably more work on top of this, though. For now, I’m happy with my tutorial level.