Squid Jump
Latest Release - 03/09/2023
Version - 1.2
A game for the Arduboy handheld console inspired by a microgame from Splatoon.
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This is the first game that I wrote for the Arduboy and it's a demake of the Squid Jump microgame from Splatoon, which is an arcade style 'Jumper' game. I hadn't programmed anything in C++ before this, so I felt like this project was a good level to begin at, as lots of the gameplay features had already been thought out by others, so I could focus on the game logic functionality.
As the whole system is just a microcontroller, there are very few libraries to aid development, and everything you do is very low-level. I loved the restrictions this imposed, despite the whole game feeling very duct-taped together from my perspective. An aspect of development I enjoyed more than expected was the monochrome pixel art. It was a slight challenge to depict the game elements intuitively, but it didn't have such a high skill ceiling that I wouldn't be happy with the result. I also made a font inspired by the one used in the original, as well as implementing a procedurely generated background.
I think it was a great place to start for learning this new system, and I think the final product is a very enjoyable little game! I spent a lot of development time continuing to playing it after I'd already tested what I needed to.
Seeing the game running on the Arduboy's tiny OLED screen is a delight, but I know not many people own one, so it's also available to play on emulator. Someone even created retro game achievements for the game, and I'm very impressed by the people at the top of the high score leaderboard.
