Downwell's Dual Purpose Design | Game Maker's Toolkit

Hi! This is Game Maker's Toolkit, I'm Mark
Brown

So a few months ago I made a video about controllers,
and when I said "there is incredible elegance

to be found in games designed around a single
mechanic" I showed this game.

And way too many people didn't know what the
game was.

So let me introduce you to Downwell: a stylish
and brutally difficult arcade game, about

plummeting down a randomly generated well.
And it's also one of the most elegantly designed

games I've played in a long time.

And the reason I say that is because almost
everything in the game serves two, or even

three purposes.

The game's creator, Ojiro Fumoto, was inspired
by a Shigeru Miyamoto quote that goes "A good

idea is something that does not solve just
one single problem, but rather can solve multiple

problems at once" - and boy, does Fumoto run
with it.

Take the jump button. Downwell was made with
mobile in mind, so Fumoto only wanted three

buttons: left, right, and jump. But because
the jump button can do something else when

you're in mid-air, that same button also fires
bullets out of your boots.

These gunboots serve multiple purposes as
well. Not only do they kill enemies, and not

only do they carve paths through blocks, but
they also slow your descent and help you maneuverer

in mid-air.

Enemies are, well, enemies. They try and kill
you from all different directions and you

can blast them with your gunboots. But they
also serve two other purposes.

Your gunboots have a limited charge, but if
you land on an enemy's head you'll instantly

reload. And this will also start a combo chain:
bop a whole bunch of enemies in a row and

you'll get special bonuses like extra gunboot
charges and more gems.

Landing on the ground also serves a couple
functions: it reloads your gunboots, and it

finishes off your combo.

The game is full of gems, which are used for
a bunch of different things. Gems collected

during that run can be spent in shops, and
your overal collection of gems is used to

unlock new game modes and visual styles.

Plus, collecting lots of gems in quick succession
unlocks "gem high" mode, where your bullets

are bigger and do more damage, for as long
as you continue collecting gems.

These sub rooms give you a chance to breathe
- especially if you're in the middle of a

frantic combo. But they also let you pick
up some more gems or, sometimes, get a new gun.

If you've been paying any attention so far,
you won't be surprised to learn that the gun

pickups serve two purposes. They not only
give you a new weapon to play with, but the

pickup also boosts either your gunboot charge
or your health. And getting health not only

boosts your hit points but, if your health
is full, starts building up towards boosting

your max HP, too.

You can also look at things outside of the
main game. The styles, which are alternative

ways of playing, make the game both easier
and harder to play. Boulder style gives you

more HP but fewer upgrade choices. Arm spin
style gives you more gun upgrades but shops

are now ultra rare.

And the aesthetics don't just give the game
a quirky, retro style but also make the game

immediately readable at 100 miles per hour.
Foes and obstacles show up in red, and enemies

can also be all red if you can't jump on them,
or just red on the bottom if you can.

So, as you can see, pretty much everything
in Downwell is working at least two jobs.

And this carries some substantial benefits.

For one, Downwell can offer a huge amount
of depth with, essentially, half the number

of moving parts. It doesn't need separate
buttons for jump and shoot. It doesn't need

a reload button or ammo crates. It doesn't
need separate items for gun, health and charge pick-ups

And this means you don't need to learn loads
of obtuse systems and have to figure out what

everything does because as long you understand
the basics, the rest will flow.

And it also allows Fumoto to nudge you towards
playing Downwell in his intended way. Which

is to play the game at top speed, turning
the levels into a barmy dance of jumping from

one enemy to the next.

So if you collect gems to use in the shop,
you'll also enter gem high mode which encourages

you to act fast and quickly collect gems to
keep that meter going. And if you bop on a

few enemy heads to reload your gun, or because
these jerks turn into evil nightmare skulls

if you shoot them, you'll want to keep doing
this to get a bigger prize, which makes you

go faster and take more risks.

These combo systems also act like a difficulty
mode, without making you select it from the

main menu. Want to make Downwell more difficult?
Try getting a combo over 20, 30, 40 points.

And they make the early levels more fun on
your 50th go. Oh, Downwell is a roguelike

with permadeath. Did I forget to mention that?
It's basically Spelunky:

four different worlds and then a boss.
And like Spelunky, the first world eventually

becomes so easy that it's a bit of a chore
to work through. But in Downwell, you can

use this first world to practice your combo
skills, and build up a nice stockpile of gems

and goodies for later stages.

Fumoto also wants you to make tough decisions
and, again, this is reinforced through the

game's dual purpose design. You might not
want to pick up the unpredictable noppy weapon,

but you do want the health boost that comes
with it. Hm! The styles come with tricky trade-offs,

as do the upgrades collected between levels.
Making your bullet casings deadly sounds good,

but it could screw up your combo game.

Downwell shows how a game can do a lot, with
a little, as long as every part of the game

is working over time. And it shows how a game
can provide a lot of depth without being overly

fussy and complex. And so all that, is why you really should have heard of Downwell.

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