Noodle Olympics Gameplay Prototype
Player 1: QWER and ASDF
Player 2: UIOP and JKL;
Noodle Olympics is a simple, intuitive physics game. You are a snake. How fast can you go in these olympic events? Easy to learn, even easier to master! The unique control scheme gives you complete control over your noodle, so that you can make quick, precise and controlled moves for maximum efficiency. Run, jump, and fly, noodle. Human olympics competitors are nowhere near as fast as you! When you’re done racing, grab a friend to fence in a noodle duel to the death!
How to Play:
- Start with Noodle Run. Tap the keys. Tap all the keys. Tap them a bunch. Notice how you move very slowly in the wrong direction? Good!
- Press and hold a few keys, then let go. If you move forward, great!
- Go to the Sandbox. See if you can figure out a better way to move. Good luck!
With Noodle Olympics, I am trying to create something that’s easy to understand, but hard to master, and most of all, fun to mess around with. The basic physics and feel of the noodle encourage unorthodox methods of locomotion. The Sandbox is particularly important just to see all the weird shapes you can make with a noodle. However, even outside of the Sandbox there is plenty of room for innovation. I am confident that there are strategies I haven’t yet discovered, especially in Noodle Fight.
Even after the noodle could physically move as it does now, the hardest part of designing Noodle Olympics was making it feel fluid and wiggly, like a snake. At first, the noodle was extremely slow and heavy. Through weeks of trial and error, I managed to find a magical combination of physics constants including (but not limited to) spring frequency, length, position, and noodle mass, that I think make the noodle really feel natural. Like something you might find under a rock, or in a pasta pot. All without compromising the unforgiving wall of difficulty offered by Noodle Olympics!
