A bit of history
The game began as a way for me to see how much I could learn about Unity, starting out as a short platformer with only spikes as an obstacle and very limited levels, and evolving into the physics-based platformer it is today over the course of about 6 months. There's currently no release date, and I'm not sure whether the game will eventually be paid for in any way, but for now it's just a fun project for me to test my skills, get feedback from the community and gain fans for any future projects I start.
The existing features
The game's level layout is structured much like the original Crash Bandicoot games, with 5 levels in each world and then a boss at the end of each. Before the update, there was a complete World 1 with the first boss (called "Squoid"), and World 2 levels 1-3. Most of the first levels were designed to lead the player in gently to the kinds of puzzles and controls they should expect to see throughout the game, introducing game mechanics such as the Force Gun, which can pick up physics cubes and shoot them across the level to solve puzzles, and the Laser Gun, which is used to activate laser receivers, which in turn trigger events in the level such as moving platforms and opening doors. World 1 Level 5 has an interesting mechanic where jumping will flip some platforms on and off, too. The main way I've been promoting the game has been through my blog, Daniel to the Power of Awesome, which has thus far garnered a handful of supporters, but the time has come for a wider audience.
The new update!
If you want a more detailed explanation of the new update, you can check out my blog here.
The old Force Gun has been changed for a brand new one, now with much better textures, sounds and animations. New particle effects will also come soon.
The game's pause menu has been vastly improved from the old one, which used Unity's native OnGUI() stuff, which didn't look too great and was a bit hard to use, to my own system using GameObjects and the OnMouseDown() function. Basically, it's much more colourful and matches the theme of the rest of the game better now.
To go with the new pause menu, the Start Menu also has a new GUI, and a bit of a redesign so it looks more orderly.
There's also two new levels for this update, both to finish up World 2. The first level has a puzzle where you need to get a cube past a vapourising field, and the second new level features a fun runway level with a bunch of obstacles lined up trying to kill you - you'll need to hop on top of a cube and use the Force Gun to navigate past everything, but avoid the vapourising fields that'll destroy the cube (they're the blue fuzzy things in the screenshots below).
The latter introduces a new type of field that damages the player, which are the red fuzzy things in the above image.
Some previous level are now full of ways to kill you, such as more spiky walls and turrets.
And the Hub World's had a couple things added to give it a better feeling of scale, as if you're at the top level of a massive facility
Feel free to leave any comments you have about any bugs, stuff you like, or directions you want to see the game go in. Your ideas are important, and if they're good I'm likely to implement them and give you credit for them somehow :)
You can play the game from my blog, or a better way to play it is from my Dropbox (this way is formatted better).
Have fun playing, and I hope the game grows to be something huge :D
