Jacob Olson
Level and Systems Designer
Explode Yourself
2025
You like explosions, I like explosions. Why not make a whole game revolving around explosions?
Explode Yourself is a puzzle-platformer revolving around everything that makes explosions fun. The player will blow up objects, send things flying around, and (perhaps most importantly) explode themself to send their character flying rocket-jump style.
Design Process
There are many different aspects to explosions that players enjoy. Encapsulating all parts of it is important and is a constant iterative process as I continue this project. First off, we of course should bring up the legendary use of explosions - the Rocket Jump.
Rocket Jump
Rocket Jumping is one of the most famed mobility options in all of gaming. It's a huge burst of mobility in almost any direction and often has a large learning curve that can differentiate the skill level of different players.
I wanted to capture the same burst of mobility and freedom of movement that rocket jumping often provides. With it being the central mechanic to the game as well, I don't want the skill floor to be particularly high. However, I still want to provide the player with creative and skill-testing ways to use it.
Since I want it to be easy to use, the main points of skill expression in the item itself are trajectory and adding velocity through jumping before getting hit. As such, the main curves of difficulty and further skill expression will be through the level design.
For example, the player will have multiple paths throughout the level. On the left example, with just 1 C4, the player can't quite get the height to take a shortcut to a later part in the level. However with the right example, by using 2 C4, they easily have the mobility to get to it, as long as they have enough control of their trajectory to get where they want. Smart application of this mobility will allow players to express their skill through various means.
Not only that, but there are planned to be hidden exits that will require a higher mastery of the skills to reach, whether it's mastery of trajectory or movement. These will be similar to old Mario games' hidden pipes, allowing the player to even skip certain levels.
Of course, there's a lot more to explosions than just rocket jumping.
Destructible Parts of the Environment
We can't forget about the main purpose of explosions - to blow stuff up. While I didn't want the whole environment to be destructible to still retain some of the puzzle platformer elements, destructible environments still feel like they should be at-home in a game like this. So, of course, I made them part of the puzzles themselves.
Throughout levels, there are destructible parts of the environment. These can range from things that open up paths to the players or just fun bits that let the player let out their destructive needs. I've color-coded the destructible parts of the environment in this game to communicate to the player what they can destroy.
Sending Objects Flying
While, of course, the player's explosions can send destructible parts of the environment flying, I also wanted it to serve a practical purpose in the game. More specifically, I wanted to lean into it for the puzzle solving aspect. Throughout the game, there will be physics-influenced objects that the player must navigate to a specific spot in order to get out of the level.
As seen in the right gif above, when the player lands the box into the physics goal, the door will turn green, allowing the player to leave that area. In doing this, it mixes the gameplay up between wild movement and more precise puzzle solving.
However, I also don't want to make this part of the puzzle solving too precise, as I don't believe most players are looking for a required amount of high precision when dealing with explosions. This is why they are being brought to larger goals and form a smaller part of the level, as opposed to having to do something such as navigating boxes with precise movement through a long platforming level.
Puzzles
As the game progresses, I look to use these systems for a variety of different puzzles. They can be just as simple as destroying the right objects to progress or bringing cubes to the right places. But, they can also involve things like the puzzle shown in the gif below.
In the 4th level of the game, the player must destroy the destructible parts of the environment, which will in turn fall into a bucket that holds the fragments. Once all 3 of the destructible parts of the environment are destroyed, it will release the cubes from the cages that are holding them, allowing the player to them bring the cubes over to a hole for the cubes.
Once the player gets all 3 of the cubes into the hole, they activate a door that the player can pass through to progress to the next level.
This level is the first that really tests how the player brings all their skills they learned in the 3 prior tutorial levels together. They must maneuver the cubes through different parts of the environment, throwing it over holes gaps and around pipes. The player must destroy the destructible parts of the environment and will see the importance of doing so. And the player must platform to effectively move around the environment. Furthermore, the level is constructed to reward the players that master these skills, by allowing for shortcuts in movement and box maneuvering, so that those that are skilled with the mechanics can still quickly complete the level.
Gameplay Preview
There are 4 levels existing in my current build. The first 2 are simple introductory tutorial levels, meant to show the player the basic mechanics of the game - exploding boxes to move them and exploding yourself to move around. The 3rd and 4th level go a bit more in-depth, with the 3rd level showing destructible environments and the 4th level showing how all these mechanics start to come together to create puzzles and levels.
Current Prototype (First 4 levels)
The ZIP File to the right contains the current build.
Currently Mouse and Keyboard Only.
Instructions:
- 1 and 2 to switch between the two types of explosives - C4 and Grenade
- WASD to move; Space to jump; Shift to sprint while moving
- Left click to throw explosive;
- Grenade explodes after a set timer after hitting a surface,
- C4 explodes when you Right Click
- R to restart current level
- Escape to quit game