PLEASE START US OFF BY INTRODUCING YOURSELF:
I am Mason C Hardison, also known as "CHAOKOCartoons". I started my pursuit of art and game development at 8, getting online and posting things around the age of 13. My first game was technically a game made on the "Sploder" website (which unfortunately just shut down this April, so I've heard), the game in question being "Diggy the Huskey".
Since then, I eventually became a prominent modder for Rivals of Aether workshop, a sprite/illustration artist for Super Powered Battle Friends, a character Designer, Illustrator, and Animator for Smack Studio, an Animator for BlueBlood Arena (from the creator of Among Us Arena), a 3d animator on Fech the Ferret, and most majorly a 2d cleanup and inbetween animator for Wayforward's River City Girls 2 and Nintendo's Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp.
TELL US ABOUT KILAFLOW.
KilaFlow first started development as a distraction from my fathers passing, which would happen soon after making the first prototype. I only wanted to experiment with Godot 4's new features and try to work on a new movement system from the previous game I was working on called "Harmonic Hearts". However, while messing up the code for an air dash, I accidentally created what is currently the "Flow" mechanic that lets you disable gravity while attacking to get greater heights. This lead to me getting the idea to stick with the game and experiment with this new mechanic. At first, I considered making it a game based on Patricia Taxxon's "Pix and Bit" album, but due to the game starting to become more like a Sonic or Crash styled platformer I decided to shift away from that and try and focus on something original instead.
My next idea was a game about my mascot Veri, but since people see them as me, I thought it might come off a bit egotistical, so I once again shifted ideas. I have multiple friends who love robots and wanted me to make more robot characters, so I decided to lean into that instead. I incorporated my love for early 2000's plastic device aesthetics and made a very "toy robot" like design still partially based on my current mascot. I do not remember exactly why I chose the theme of an Antivirus, but this is what finally lead to the game "KilaFlow" being my next focused game. I think I just remembered how much of a scam antiviruses were, and wanted to make a bit of a cynical snarky jab at them as the modern generation may not even be aware of their existence.
HOW HAS THE DEVELOPMENT JOURNEY BEEN
The journey was surprisingly fast and smooth.
Usually I tend to be a "proof of concept" developer, making a base engine and concept for a game, getting stuck trying to implement something, and then giving up and moving on to something else. KilaFlow was a unique case, and I could tell right away. I nailed the game's core gameplay and mechanics immediately, and figured out a formula I knew could be done quickly and simply. Within the first week or two, the game had a level completable from start to end, and by the first month or two there was a full demo ready for SAGE 2023 containing 1 world and 3 bonus levels, though it lacked a lot of the polish and features that made the game easier in the current demo like double jumps, coyote time, the slide, ect.
Within another couple months or so, the tutorial world was done and implemented. On it's own, worlds only take about 2 weeks to finish. It's the polish and other behind the scenes stuff that takes so long, which is what the last 5 or 6 months have been. If I was just working on the worlds and not polishing anything, the game would be almost done! I hope I've polished the game up enough to where I can now just carry on with finishing the worlds.
WHICH GAME ENGINE DID YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?
My engine of choice is Godot. It's a rather simple engine that is capable of more than you'd expect, comparable to Unity with less bloat. In that sense, it was the only engine I ever really found myself understanding besides basic learning ones like 001 Game Creator, Sploder, Click Team Fusion 2, and GameMaker.
WHAT'S BEEN YOUR BIGGEST DEVELOPMENT HURDLE SO FAR?
The biggest hurdle has been trying to code rail grinding and button remapping. No kidding, I just can't wrap my head around it, will probably get assistance from other Godot developers on that one lol.
Though I suppose a more serious and in-depth answer would just be the Kickstarter. I've adopted a much more "function over fashion" mindset lately, especially when it came to KilaFlow. When it comes to the games progress, this works great! However, when asked to make a polished and fancy vertical slice of a demo that made people want to spend money on it only a year into development, I really had to wrack my brain on how to make that work. Thankfully, it seems my natural sense of character design and visual flare already managed to carry me on that one.
The game was designed with a lot of people's feedback of Sonic games in mind, actually. Over the years I've watched people say things like "automated speed segments feel cheap", "I don't want control taken from me", "I'm tired of boost segments, I want more platforming focus like in the Adventure days", and most oddly "Crash 4 is a better Sonic game than most Sonic games". While I don't agree with all of that necessarily, it did lead me to make a game with less spectacle and more raw platforming. The downside is that it made coming up with cool trailer shots kinda hard. I personally think the game looks more fun when you actually play it.
ADVICE FOR FELLOW DEVS?
My advice for anyone else working on their projects: WORK WITHIN YOUR LIMITS. While it is tempting to go right in and try and make something very fancy, starting with something basic that you know you, ON YOUR OWN, can achieve is important. Many of my other projects stagnated because I ran into something I wanted to do that I just wasn't experienced enough to do, or required someone else's expertise. Once I finally decided on KilaFlow, a very simple platformer with lots of room to expand upon it's simple mechanics and design, I suddenly was able to pump out and extremely feature packed demo in only a couple months. Lean into your strengths, and if you encounter something that's giving you trouble to learn or implement, back off. Work smarter, not harder, you'll figure it out some other day once you understand your engine more by completing the development of simpler games in it first.
This is to say, if you're good at level design for example, lean into that instead of fancy visuals or complex systems. Just good at character design, make something more character and visually focused. Play to your strengths, and develop skills around those strengths so you can slowly lean into others via what you know best. We all learn certain things better than others, so don't force yourself to do something you haven't gotten a proper grip on if you just want to get something out there!
ANY FINAL THOUGHTS?
- Final thoughts? I try not to think too hard, I tend to just focus on doing stuff! Thinking can lead to overcomplication, so I prefer to go with the flow. Though I suppose every now and again even I have to spend a day just sitting down and going "can I do this? how will I do it? do I want to? how long will this take? how will I pay rent? what will the taxes be like". That kind of stuff is kind of important for developing games, I guess.
While you're at it, I advise everyone to try Godot's 3d engine. It exists. It's good!
- Mason
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2927510/KilaFlow/
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/chaokocartoons/kilaflow
❤️
