Open-world games are important to Garrick Campsey. The indie developer grew up playing games likeGrand Theft Auto, which are built aroundfree-roaming sandboxesthat allow players to explore and experiment.
Now, nearly a decade since he started designing games as a hobby, Campsey is hard at work on his first major project — cyberpunk platformerLAZR. Campsey’s game isn’t just any side-scroller, though. In addition to a unique traversal mechanic that uses a physics engine to simulate cloth, the solo dev is implementing a bevy of ambitious features that makeLAZRalmost as reminiscent ofan open-world gameas a platformer. Game Rant sat down with Campsey to discuss how he struck that balance and built a title that stands out in the genre.
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LAZR’s Cloth Mechanics Add a New Dimension to Platforming
LAZR’sSteam page describes the game as a “new era of physics-based platforming.” The gameplay, which sees players take on hordes of enemies and bosses across nearly 100 levels ofcyberpunk-inspired cityscape, has an equally heavy focus on traversal. In particular, some ofLAZR’s levels employ cloth-like lattice that players must utilize to cross certain obstacles.
It’s a unique concept, and one that Campsey said arose from a friendly challenge. “The origins of the game actually came from a Discord conversation I had with a friend of mine in Germany, in which he challenged me to put cloth into a platformer,” he said. “So I did, with some sprites I had lying around.”
Campsey used a physics system known as Verlet integration to simulate cloth. Whereasother physics simulatorswould create cloth elements that behave differently every time they’re interacted with, Verlet integrations ensure the same outcome every time, he explained.
It was a process that required a lot of effort, but Campsey felt it was important to the player experience. “I don’t want it to be different for each player, I want it to be the same, especially if peopleare going to speedrun.”
Once the physics were sorted out, Campsey added some platforming on top of that gameplay skeleton, he said.
“As far as I know, no other platformer has been written using this type of physics system.”
Campsey liked the finished concept enough that he posted some gameplay on Twitter, where it quickly gained traction. He was approached bypublisher Top Hat Studios, who offered to work with the developer on a title based around cloth simulation.
“That showed me that the world was interested in it, and that it was an idea worth pursuing,” Campsey said. “So, I decided to put everything that I had into it and see where it went.”
As for how cloth simulations actually work inLAZR, a lot of it has to do with climbing obstacles, Campsey said. “Most of the time, it’s vertical, climbing up in some way. So as you climb up a wall, you can climb up the cloth.”
InLAZR, Campsey has spiced up the cloth formula a bit, adding hazardsand other innovationsto keep players on their toes as they traverse the environment. “One of my favorites are these exploding mines that I added to some of the cloth,” he said. “I can use all of these mechanics that would normally challenge a player on a wall, but on cloth instead — explosions, different kinds of enemies flying around, things like that.” Different platforming areas are also connected by sections of cloth.
Although it’s a unique concept, Campsey is not quick to call himself a trailblazer in theworld of platformer development. “I have two minds about that,” he said. “My first opinion is, no, I’m not trailblazing anything. That’s way too vain. I’m not smart enough to do that.”
While Campsey acknowledged that cloth simulations are a novel idea for platformers and that he was potentially adding something new to the genre, he added that such a thing was hard to verify. “Do we sit down with some physicists and ask, is this new? My peers think that it’s interesting and different, and that’s good enough for me.”
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LAZR is Equal Parts Platformer and Open-World RPG
At first blush, much ofLAZR’sgameplay appears similar to other platformers — players progress through levels and defeat bosses until the end of the game’s storyline. However, under the surface lies anambitious open-world infrastructurethat signalsLAZR’sdeparture from traditional platformers.
Player choice was important to Campsey while developingLAZR, and its in-game economy is one way that he aimed to hand that power over. Coins collected throughout the game are “like an intermediary” between Campsey and the player, he said. “When I want to reward the player, I can give them a bunch of coins, and then they can go spend it however they want to. I can do that instead of rewarding the player with something like a laser upgrade. Maybe they don’t want a laser upgrade.”
One of the biggest things inLAZRthat players can spend their hard-earned coins on are properties. Each property comes equipped with a special feature that affects gameplay — whether that’s a garage to store vehicles or a station tocustomize the player character. Campsey is even considering implementing a stock market in the game, which could be accessed through a buyable property. “Things like that give homes more value,” he said.
A fast-travel option is another wayLAZRgives players the ability to explore the game the way they want to. Inspired byDestiny’sdrop-in level design, Campsey implemented a system that allows players to travel to any one of their safehouses or a central market location at any time. Players can also travel to an arena known as the Thunderdome to fight for coins. “If you’re tired of playing a linear story, then you’re able to just get on your bike, fast travel to wherever you want to go, do something else for a little bit, and then come back to the story whenever you want to,” Campsey said.
“Fast travel functionality is critical to navigating in an open world, and I realized that it’s a tool I can use in a platformer likeLAZRto give it an open world.”
Many of the open-world mechanics Campsey implemented inLAZRwere inspired by his childhood experience playing games with similar features. “I was raised onGrand Theft Auto,” he said. “WhenGrand Theft Auto 3came out it was a changing moment in my life. It was a fully open world in 3D, and you could go anywhere and do whatever you wanted to.”
Campsey playedGrand Theft Autofor hours, “just doing crazy stuff,” he said. The level of freedom the game provided was “hugely influential” on his own work.
“When I look at the game that I’m making, and I say, ‘how do I make this better,’ I think about those games, and I think about the mechanics that I enjoyed and the things that I really remember about them,” Campsey said.Properties and businesses are a central part ofGrand Theft Autotitles, and he felt like they would be at home in a game likeLAZR.
“So I realized, I have the ability to put that into my game,” Campsey said. “Why don’t I just do that?”
