I'm working on a new art design for Elemental Slime. Why?

Because I felt like something was missing in the game. Everyone who played it liked the mechanics and wanted to keep playing, but somehow they couldn't fully connect with the game or progress through it. For a long time, I couldn’t figure out why.

Then, during a conversation with a publisher, they pointed out a very critical issue: the camera angle and the amount of visible area. After taking a closer look, I realized how right they were.

During this process, I played and analyzed several popular platformer games. The common trait among them was this: even if they didn’t contain puzzle elements, they offered a wide field of view, allowing players to plan several steps ahead and understand where to go with ease.

In my previous version, however, the camera showed a very limited area, making it hard for players to perceive the puzzle they needed to solve. That left me with two options:

1 - Either switch to a fully linear design (which would kill the spirit of the game),

2 - Or expect the player to explore the entire area and mentally map out everything (which, let’s be honest, most players wouldn’t want to do).

As a result: the new design you’re seeing now came to life. For now, I’m using an orthographic camera mode. Maybe I’ll experiment with a very low field of view in the future, but the overall look likely won’t change much.

Your feedback means a lot to me. Feel free to reach out via comments or direct message. It doesn’t have to be limited to this topic, I'm open to all kinds of thoughts and suggestions.

Steam Store Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3540580/Elemental_Slime/