Summary
Frakkin’ Hell is an arcade game where you play as a miner, digging down-screen to progress to harder levels beneath the Earth’s crust.
The player will need to constantly mine downwards, collecting ores and avoiding enemies. They are armed with a drill which, when used at a perfect time, will result in a critical hit, causing the player to earn more resources, or deal more damage. Chain these critical hits together to form a combo that takes you down even faster.
After a certain trigger, the level will change into a boss fight. The first one designed was a demonic chicken, which would spawn after mining enough eggs.
Narrative
Days after the excavations began, a new virus spread throughout civilisation, colloquially named Terminal Restless Leg Syndrome. Society descended into chaos. Many would succumb to the disease in a flash of violent death. But some chose to use their final moments to find a cure.
The cause, and the solution all hinge on a singular phenomenon…
FRAKKIN’ HELL
Intro
Shelving
Ultimately I didn’t find the gameplay to be fun enough, and couldn’t think of ways that constantly mining downwards would work without completely changing the entire concept. I had explored similar games, but the fun ones all had drastically different gameplay, such as match-3 mechanics. I quite enjoyed Downwell, and used it as reference as it was also made in GameMaker Studio 2, though its only similarities are its arcade survival structure and downwards descent.