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SFML projects / Alkali, a physics inspired precision platformer

« on: August 20, 2021, 05:21:33 pm »

Hi everyone!

We are a developer duo that have been working on Alkali for over 3 years alongside university. We are using C++ and SFML with no other libraries. A goal with this project was to make everything from scratch except for anything that is platform dependent.

Alkali is a precision platformer inspired by the chemical reactions of alkali metals. Use your physical properties to propel yourself across a variety of dangerous levels, coupling traditional platforming mechanics with the mass-based mechanics of the alkalic main character. Collect chunks of metal to grow yourself, leap into the water for an explosive jump, or barely graze past a whirring saw with just a sliver of body remaining.



Some notes about the project

• Custom collision detection using SAT, supporting all convex polygons and circles.
• Custom menu system created from the ground up (this took waaay longer than expected… but it now supports a variety of menu objects such as buttons, bindable keys, sliders, etc.).
• Rebindable controls where the game automatically identifies connected controllers based on the SDL controller mapping database and displays sprites from Xelu’s OpenGameArt submission.
• Custom level editor coded from scratch, with selection and undo-redo functionality.
• Language support that’s easy to extend by the community, based on simple txt-files.
• Ground tile sprites are loaded as a large block, and cut-and-connected as sf::Images for the various shapes.
• GLSL fragment shaders for water, as well as Dark World effects.

Website: https://www.alkaligame.com/

The game will be released on Steam on Nov 10: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1968790/Alkali/

We have a big focus on speedrunning, with a speedrun.com leaderboard. The fastest any% run so far is actually insanely fast.


Alpha screen shots

A level in world 2 with rising water


World map of world 1


Level editor


Custom level selection menu