Billy Saves the World - This Game Has FREEDOM
A trailer for Billy Saves the World
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00:00Hey everybody, welcome back to another video. Today we're looking at some level design and I wanted to show you a particular level that I think really showcases what makes this game, one of the ways that makes this game very unique.
00:13And so I'm going to go there right now. Right now I'm walking through a camp called on the Eastern Island and I've already done some things in the game right now, so out of context it might seem a little strange.
00:26And also, spoiler warning as well if you care about spoilers for indie games. So I'm going to a place called the Rogue's Den and excuse me if my voice sounds a bit weird or raw or plugged up, I'm sick right now.
00:42So there's this area here called the Rogue's Den. Not everyone will get access to this. It's kind of up to you. Think of it like a guild in an Elder Scrolls game. So there's the Mage Guild, the Fighter's Guild, that kind of thing.
00:56This is kind of a guild in my game where if you pass some trials you are given access to this place and along with that you get some special prizes and goodies. One of those things is the Rogue Gloves which gives you the ability to wall jump among a lot of other things.
01:20And it's actually quite a huge upgrade because it's entirely optional but it really changes the game drastically. There's lots of areas you can explore and it's optional. So even though my game is sort of a Metroidvania, one of the things that separates it from the rest is the fact that you don't have to get all the upgrades.
01:41In fact, you can pretty much skip every upgrade in the game and I've always thought that would be kind of cool in a Metroidvania because Metroidvanias are always about exploration and all this kind of stuff but in the end there's not really a unique path through it because everyone ultimately gets the same upgrades just usually in a different order.
02:00And so I thought it would be kind of cool if in my game you had complete control over if you wanted an upgrade or not regardless of how big of a difference it made on the game. And this one is significant, it really changes the game a lot and you can complete the whole game without ever getting it.
02:18So you get it in this area here and so I've created a little bit of a test area for the player here to train them. So I've equipped the rogue gloves so now I'm able to use them here. This little part here is actually kind of a, it's actually maybe quite an expert move here that I shouldn't have put first but I did anyway.
02:43So it's training the player to stick to the wall that you're coming off of like this and it allows you to push off of it and jump a lot farther than your normal or double jump would allow you. And so if you can master that you will be able to do a lot of cool stuff, a lot of good things happen.
03:06You can also slide down walls so that you don't take any damage. If you were to just jump off that you would take fall damage. And then the most common use of course is the wall jumping. So a lot of, you get a lot of abilities with that one item.
03:20So here is the level I wanted to actually show you. This level is called Proving Rounds and it's meant to help train the player to get used to their new equipment, their rogue gloves. And I also think it's just a good example of the level design in my game because the levels themselves are, there's a lot of value to them.
03:47So first off, and I apologize, I'm going to be moving a little slowly through these levels so I can explain stuff. So I'm trying not to just stand still and talk. But you'll notice that right away there are two paths you can take. You can go left or right. Generally speaking, a lot of the levels in the game, and there's about 30 of them, that you can find, you can discover these levels and they're completely optional. So all of the levels are entirely optional. You can finish the entire game without doing any of the levels which is crazy to say.
04:15But the majority of the levels do have multiple routes and the way they work is, well let me, I'll just, so it's not boring, I'll start going up here. So you can bounce up here, you can wall jump, and get access to this upper area here. And you can take care of these guys. These are glow bugs. Maybe I'll do a different video on these guys. I'll just take care of them really quickly without explaining it. Get some items here.
04:41So again, generally speaking, every level has different routes and a lot of times I try to design it in a way that the middle route, so the main route that you're on, the one that I'm on right now, is sort of the standard way to play that stage.
04:58So if you go through the middle route, you'll get some challenge, you'll find, you know, you'll, yeah, you'll get some challenge and you'll experience the level. And so I'll just continue going forwards here. There's platforms that are falling.
05:12As you can see, some, there's some definitely challenge, most people won't clear what I just did first try very easily, but I've played this a billion times, so I've gotten quite good at it. And again, some more, you know, a little bit of a challenge area here.
05:30Chimmy up these walls. You'll note, you might notice Billy's eyes bulge out of his head. Let's see if I can make it happen here. There he goes. You see it happen there? Watch his eyes carefully. There, see it? It's just a weird glitch that's happening. We're in between builds. There's actually a few glitches that just popped up. Little bugs, we're solving them, that's not part of the game.
05:54By the way, well, let me just clear this path here. So that was the main path. That was, you know, not too long, not too crazy. There's definitely some challenge, but overall, that was the level. So you could take that and leave it. Now you could say, cool, I beat that level, and you could go on with your life, or you can keep exploring if you want to. Try to 100% the level.
06:18By the way, my name is Cooper Bebo. I am the writer, director, and designer of this game. I'm also an actor, writer, and producer of film, television, and video games. Again, just like this one here. So if you like what you see so far, please go to Steam and wishlist Billy Saves the World. I would really appreciate it. It's been made with love. I've been making it for years. It's taken me forever, and I would love any support you give me. And with that, let's get back to the explanation.
06:45So let's say you're going on this main route, and this is the first time you're playing, and you happen to fall down, and you land down here. So you've fallen off the main road, and now you're on the bottom route. Now, typically, not always, but typically, I've used the lower routes to be acting as sort of a baked-in difficulty.
07:08So the lower route is going to be a little easier, but it lets you keep playing the level. It gives you sort of a second chance. My goal with the game is to keep people playing, and not punish people too much. I want people to play the game. So especially for an optional level like this, I'd rather the player keep going, even if they make a mistake, and get to keep playing and finish the level.
07:30And because it's a baked-in difficulty, the lower area is going to be a little easier than the upper area. But, even along the way, you'll find multiple routes. Again, so now on the bottom route, there's another two ways to go. You jump on those platforms and go up, or you can keep going forwards on this easy path. You won't really know it, and it's not always easy. I just, typically, that's how I try to design the levels.
07:56And it's still offering some challenge, for sure, and it's still offering the player a chance to get used to their rope gloves, and let them wall jump, and that kind of thing. So there's the second way. That's the second path to finish this level.
08:14Now, every level does have... I don't have the item with me right now, but I could scan this cave, and it would tell me what's available in the cave before I even enter it. And so, for people who are completionists, and you want to get all the coins, for example, the collections app, you get this when you become a member of the rogues.
08:42When you get your gloves, and this app, again, entirely optional. Some people will never even see this app. It keeps track of all the coins you've collected. So there's bronze, silver, gold. They just, you know, bronzes are easier to get. Silver, a bit more challenging. And gold, you typically have to go a little bit out of your way, and they're challenging to collect the gold.
09:02Caves, it keeps track of all the levels you've completed. The first dot there is if you've completed the cave any way at all. The second one is a time trial, and the third dot is for if you've found every coin in every level. Or every coin in that level.
09:17So now let's take this other route that we haven't gone. This is a drastically different, completely different route. And this is what I would consider to be the most difficult route. And you can tell because it's kind of going out of your way. It's not really naturally where you might go. It's to the left, it's up. Traditionally, most people tend to go to the right.
09:39And so I tried to make it a little bit more obvious of like, okay, if you're going to go off the beaten path, you might seek, find some extra challenge. So this one you have to wall jump, and you want to stick to the right wall to dodge this fireball until you're safely up here.
09:58Again, now that you're at the top, you can go down and try to get that coin if you want to, or for the sake of this video, I'm just going to avoid that coin and just keep going forwards. So I'm going to shimmy up here, take care of this glow bug, get some goodies, continue forward.
10:18So again, we've got a tricky part here. That little area, I'm making it look easy, but from play testers, I can tell you that that's easier to watch than it is to actually do. Your instinct is to jump, but you're supposed to just walk off that one platform and then jump.
10:38Yeah, little, little, little, it's like a tongue twister for your hands. Little tricky parts here. So again, you gotta jump over here, just clear this, stick to this wall, and then wall jump. Whoa, that falls.
10:54So here is another example. I know this level, of course. When you play this level, you're most likely going to get scared, and you're going to keep jumping, and you're going to jump and jump and jump, and that third one's going to fall, and you're going to fall along with it because you're feeling rushed because those platforms are falling.
11:12If you're observant, you'll realize that this platform here is a bit bigger than the rest, and it's the only one that doesn't fall. So you might be wondering, okay, well, where do I go? The second time you come, you're probably going to fail the first time. The second time you get here, you're going to slow down and be like, okay, there's something here.
11:28Now, out of context, this is going to seem very abstract and obtuse. When you play the actual game, this will make more sense, but I'm going to use this power that I've gotten. It's a meditation power that allows me to see platforms that are not visible to the naked eye. And there we go, that's an example of collecting a gold coin, and it's also the finale of this level.
11:55So now you've gone through all the different paths, and again, you don't have to. You might just play this level once, and you might just choose one of those paths, but at least your experience through this one level might be different than your friends'. So when you talk to each other, you might be like, oh, did you get to that part where you did this? And they'll be like, no, I didn't do that, I fell down and I did this.
12:15And, oh, I found this secret over here. And every single level, this is just one level of over 30 that are in the game, and every single level has multiple routes, secrets, and all sorts of things to discover. And even with that, I've shown you three different routes, but there's still more things to find in this level. There are still little offshoots, little secrets, and ultimately, there's faster routes you can take to reach the end for time trials.
12:44All sorts of stuff. So I'm really excited for people to play the game and discover their own way through the game, and I'm going to play it one more time. I'm going to try to do the fastest route, which is the one you've already seen, but I just like doing it. It's just a lot of fun.
12:59It just feels nice. It just flows really well. It's one of my favorite levels in the game. It just, this whole thing just really feels nice. Bounce off this wall here, get under that guy. If you time it right or wrong, I should say, it will sting you midair and ruin your run. But this whole thing just feels really nice to me.
13:23So if you're doing a time trial, this is the way you want to go. I haven't unlocked the time trials yet in this playthrough. This is the real game I'm playing, so you have to reach a certain point before you unlock time trials. But if I were doing a time trial, that would probably be the best way to do it. And if you're too slow, you can always pop a speed potion and win yourself some time that way.
13:51So anyway, this has been Billy Saves the World. I hope you enjoy it. Again, like I said, a lot of love has gone into it. A lot of details. There's a lot to explore. There's a giant tons of different hub worlds. There are open worlds to explore, and across that open world are these caves that you can find. And there's over 30 of them, and each one of them is different, offering different paths. It's just a lot of cool stuff to discover. So I'm very excited for you to play it.
14:18Again, please wishlist it if you liked what you saw. My name is Cooper Bebo. Check out my Discord if you want to talk to the devs and follow the making of this game. Otherwise, I'll see you in the next video. Please like and subscribe. See ya.