The game im currently working on [2/21/2025]

JUMPCORE is a First Person 3D Platformer that lets you jump and run across huge interconnected levels packed with challenges, secrets, and multiple branching paths.

Inspired by the movement of classics like Half-Life and Quake, this game is all about mastering momentum, uncovering hidden routes, and pushing your movement skills to the limit.

Well with the introduction out of the way, let me talk about this project in a more casual way:

Ever since i played Jumpwad for the first time, i toyed with the idea of developing a game inspired by it, or at least something that could resemble the gameplay and aesthetics of the mod. The thing is, i didnt know if this was actually a good idea.

Jumpwad is such a niche thing to the point that is pretty hard to explain to someone else (Who isn't from the DOOM Community) whats the appeal of it. It sort of loses quality without the proper context, and even inside the community, not everyone enjoys the gameplay that the mod offers.

Of course some details and quirks in Jumpwad are the way they are because of engine limitations. As long as i keeped some core elements from the mod, i could easily customize and change the esoteric stuff that dosent really work outside of the Doom community.

For example: One of the first things i settle on was having Quake style movement instead of the DOOM one. It just made sense to go for it, because it does not only allows you to have things like air strafing or bhop, but it also appeals to a much broader audience (Like Source engine fans).

So with the help of Unity, on March 2024 i started developing JUMPCORE. Funny enough, i also had an university assignment about making a game prototype on the following months, so that was the perfect excuse to start doing this.

In the video what you see is the first prototype of the game. Basically i started making the Quake/HL1 style movement, then created a tiny layout to test it out. This prototype did well in terms of other people playing and reacting to it, but it was still way to primitive and clunky in some aspects. For example, one thing i noticed during testing is the lack of coyote time.

Coyote time is a quality of life feature usually added in 2D/3D platformers that allows the player to jump for a fraction of seconds after leaving the ground. Is no secret that everyone will try to jump at the edge of a platform to reach further distances, which usually leaves players falling off the platforms. With coyote time you can solve this, allowing players to make the jump, removing some frustration. This in Jumpwad is not a problem because of how the jump itself works, which allows you to jump in the air whenever you want.

Another huge problem was the lack of progression. In Jumpwad you collect a certain number of gems in a level, then you can unlock the exit with them. At first i thought that this would work out too, but after some analysis, talking with other people and seeing playtesting feedback, it turns out that maybe JUMPCORE needed something more interesting if i wanted to keep people engaged with the game.

Around this time i was playing a game called Cavern of Dreams, and thankfully the way the game progresses is the perfect solution for JUMPCORE. Basically the game follows the typical collectathon objective, but the thing is that the collectables are technically not requiered to unlock new areas, instead they unlock new movement skills that allows you to explore the levels in ways you couldnt before, sort of like a metroidvania.

This only works because the levels of Cavern of Dreams are all interconnected in one huge map, instead of separating them by an entrance or a exit like in Jumpwad. With all of this in mind, i started designing a new core loop for my game, while also changing how levels should work with this new progression system.

So gems now are needed to unlock a new type of obstacle called Gem Doors. They basically are gates that requiered a certain number of gems collected to be unlocked. They prevent you from gaining access to more difficult sections of a level, while also gatekeeping access to new levels or movement techniques. This means that gems are now a global collectable across all levels.

Shards on the other hand are local collectables, which means that each level has their own version of the collectable and a fixed number to collect. Collecting X number of shards in each level grants access to a new collectable called artifact, which are requiered to find a secret end game exit that i have planned.

And like in Cavern of Dreams, i also needed new movement techniques that the player could unlock. Just like in Jumpwad, i added a airjump mechanic. Sure i could had gone for a double jump, but theres something about the airjump that i like more, im not sure what it is. Although unlike in Jumpwad you cant infinitely jump to get across the map.

I also improved and polished things like movement, air strafing, collision, animations, etc. And added other new mechanics. I wont go into detail, but maybe in the future i may make another post to mention some specific development things i want to talk about.

Anyways, some months after this bring us to today. The game has advance a lot in many aspects. Right now im developing a console and a demo recording system for the game. These are not only cool features, but they will help a lot with testing (Like a lot).

And thats all for now. You may hear more of this in the future once it gets to a more presentable state, with probably a build to test the game itself. For now, here's the last video showcasing a bit of last month version. Hope you enjoy!