LBaP! is finally a complete course!

Those who have purchased the full version can now download the complete package to gain access to lesson 13. I have also gone through past lessons and edited the comments and explanations to make the course easier to comprehend.

Lesson 13 is the last lesson in the Let’s Build A Platformer! Course… but only for now. I’ll be taking a break to work on other projects for a period of time but I plan to add more lessons in the future. After all, what exciting challenges await Pea in the “Turnip Forest” and “Garlic Grotto” levels is a mystery too tantalizing to ignore forever. In the meantime, I’d love to hear feedback from you. Let me know what concepts or ideas you would love to see in future lessons by leaving a comment on the LBaP! itch.io page or join the Gumpy Function Games discord server. You can also join my discord server to ask any questions or seek help coding your own platformer game.

This course has taken hundreds of hours to create so far and yet LBaP! is a more niche product compared to the already niche world of homebrew Game Boy games. In order to ensure a paywall doesn’t become a significant barrier for those in the community less fortunate than others, my aim is to continue expanding on this course when time allows without increasing its price tag (I understand why textbooks are so expensive now). There are also rumors floating around that the next GB Studio update will do wonders for the platformer scene, too. I’ll be rewriting the course to suit if/when a platformer scene update occurs. If possible, sharing this course on your socials or with friends will go a long way to supporting me (and my family), so thank you to those of you who decide to share the Let’s Build A Platformer! Course on your socials.

A special thank you to those of you who purchased the course when it was in early access. I must admit, I had immensely underestimated how much time it would take to make a course as thorough as this. There were many (and still are) occasions I questioned the rationale of pouring so much time into such a niche product, however potentially helpful it would be to the lovers of platformer games in the community. Thankfully, the encouragement I received through early access was enough to keep those fears at bay and keep me going. Not to mention the support of my wonderful translators Praiamo J. and Proto Pixel as well as Chunky Steveo and Lost Katana for adapting some of the free lessons to follow-along PDF format, so a special special thank you to you all.

Lesson 13: Taking Your Game To The Next Level

The following concepts are explored in the lesson:

• Menus, Shops and Cutscenes (Course Concepts Reviewed)
• A Note On Player Knock-back Systems
• Implementing Health Points (HP)
• Implementing Player Invincibility Frames (i-frames)
• The Importance Of Commenting Code And Custom Script Summary Notes
• Iterating On Existing Mechanics
• Implementing Complex Player Moves (Ground Pound)
• Enabling The Ground Pound Move Only When It Is Unlocked
• Preventing Bugs Using The ‘Lock Out Gate Variable’ Method
• Precise Use Of The Platformer State Engine
• Debugging The Lock Out Gate And Player Attack State
• Updating Engine Fields, Player Fields, & Engine Variables To Temporarily Modify The Platformer Engine
• Polishing The Ground Pound Move (Yes, More Debugging)
• A Deeper Understanding Of The Platformer Animation States
• Music and SFX (Course Concepts Reviewed)

We’ve designed UI systems, implemented mechanics and begun creating content for this little game to a point now that it's starting to look like a proper platformer with all the bells and whistles you would expect. At some point in a game's development, it’s time to look over the completed work and see where it could be improved. With that in mind, in this lesson, my aim is to address the process of game design iteration. We’ll take a look at refining some systems to reduce player frustration, add some additional quality of life improvements and push that fun factor to new heights with some new mechanics, including:

• Creating our own “Attack State” for the player character.
• Iterating on the player’s “Dash” mechanic to make it an attack move on top of a fun way to move around the environment.
• Creating a new “Ground Pound” mechanic for the player character.
• Adding health points to the player's HUD to remove a one-hit fail-state.
• Implementing a player knock-back system complete with invincibility frames. 

A new scene has been created. The player can now access "Leah's Shop” if they press ‘Select’ while in the ‘World Map’ level selection screen. There, the player can trade magic eggs for unlockable moves or additional health points. The ‘Leah’s Shop’ scene acts as a review of various concepts previously covered in the course and provides a chance for you to test your understanding of the course content such as menu creation, shop implementation, cutscenes and more.

Anyway, that's it for now. I look forward to sharing more lessons in the future, but until then… happy coding!

- Tom (Gumpy Function).