Hello all! For a couple weeks now, I have been working on a game that combines randomly generated obbies and the classic Be Crushed By A Speeding Wall game. The game is called Escape The Walls Obby! I’ve decided it would be fun to document my progress and share it with the community. Let’s get right into it!
The Map
I had noticed that players were leaving the game once they had escaped the first obby. With help from the incredible Future Noob, I realized it was because the map was not intuitive. Once you beat the first wall, you are teleported to the shop to buy Tix, which unlocks the next obby. This might have been a good solution if the player did not have to walk SOOO far to get back to the obbies. On top of that, the obbies are very far apart from each other, leading to even MORE walking. The game is called “Escape The Walls Obby” not “Walk To The Walls Obby.”
To fix this, instead of having players walk physically to the obbies, I have added a sort of level hub with portals that take you straight to the obbies. Instead of walking AT LEAST 100 studs to get to each obby, they are just 2 studs apart from each other.
You might notice from these screenshots that I have decided to build the new map out of the studs material. Call it “retroslop.” Call it “ugly.” Call it whatever you would like. I think it has a nice charm to it. The studs remind me of Legos and I LOVE Legos. It also makes colors pop much more which I like.
Anyways, with this new portal system, I can adjust the size and positions of the obbies without having to redo the map every time.
The Obbies and Walls
Speaking of the size of the obbies, I have more than DOUBLED their size. Previously, every wall was 40x40 studs and the obbies generally fit inside that area. Now the walls are 100x100 STUDS!!! The obbies feel a lot less cramped now. And the walls honestly look a bit menacing barreling towards you at this size.
During this week, I felt this little Impostor Syndrome gremlin creep into my mind. It was saying how my game was just obbies with a wall slapped on (The gremlin is sort of right). However, I looked for ways to lean into the wall mechanic. This led to me adding SAFE ZONES!
(almost) EVERY stage now has a variation with a path leading to safety from the wall. Before, you could only dodge the wall if you were at a checkpoint or perfectly timed a wrap-around jump. These safe zones add a bit of risk/reward as well as strategy to the game. Do you risk running to the next safe zone while the wall is moving or wait it out? I’m very happy with what these safe zones add to the game.
The Progression
I have been told that the current Tix progression system confused players. They didn’t understand that they needed to buy Tix to unlock the next obby. Players also didn’t like having to replay obbies over and over to afford the next Tix. This unforunately means, just like Roblox, I have decided to do away with the Tix concept. You will be missed Tix!!! :,(
So now what? Without Tix, how do players unlock new obbies?
With the portal systems, I now have to build a level hub for the portals. I thought it would be fun to have the hub be a mountain you are climbing. The higher up the mountain you are, the harder the obbies and walls get. I told my brother about this idea and he suggested the player has to push a boulder out of the way to progress higher up the mountain. I thought this was GENIUS!
Here is how the new progression system will work: Obbies are now in groups. For example, the first group is Jimmy, Tammy, and Cinnammy. On the mountain, these walls will be right next to each other. Jimmy is automatically unlocked while the other two are locked for now. Once you beat Jimmy, you automatically unlock Tammy. And once you beat Tammy, you automatically unlock Cinnammy. No Tix needed.
Once you complete all the obbies in the first group, you’ll find a boulder blocking your path to the next group of obbies. To move this boulder, you need to increase your strength by eating chicken at the NEW Lil Dude Deli. These fellas have moved from the Tix sales business to running a deli.
Video of Player increasing their strength
In the process of recording that video, I have just found out all meshes in my game are now missing their textures. That’s strange. Anyways…
The original plan was to have the player float up in the air and glow white after eating the chicken. Unfortunately, I am not the greatest at animation and couldn’t get the float to look right. I also couldn’t get the player’s character to completely turn white and neon. So, I settled with a nice little backflip. I think it’s silly and fits the purpose. Do you think it works? What could I add to give it more PUNCH and really sell that you have just gotten stronger?
I have not gotten around to adding the boulder functionality yet. That will be for next week. Stay tuned for the next devlog to see how it turns out!
The Conclusion
Well, that’s all I’ve got done on the game for this past week. Next week, I will be giving adding functionality to the boulders on the mountain, giving the lobby some love, and converting the rest of the old 40x40 obby stages into 100x100.
To end this FIRST devlog off, I have a question for you, the reader: What obby game have you had the most fun playing on Roblox? Not what was the most well made or best looking. What obby game made you laugh and have a good time while playing?
Thank you all for reading and have a good morning, good evening, and goodnight!
(If you would like to check out the game in it’s current state (without any of the stuff mentioned in this devlog added) you can play it here Escape The Walls Obby [ALPHA] - Roblox)