Building a physics platformer about a hero made of water

@ebbmaker made a 3D physics platformer where you play as a small drop of water that can melt into a puddle, freeze into ice or turn to vapor to get through four maps.

Play EBB
prompts to build all four maps
versions along the way
maps
for the whole game, in a browser

Build figures: Tesana build data. Size: the game's first load.

“I wanted a little guy who feels like water. He squishes when he lands and changes shape to get past stuff. Every few prompts he picked up a new trick: first melting, then freezing, then floating. After that he needed some maps to use them all in.”
@ebbmaker · Creator of EBB

EBB is a 3D physics platformer where you play as a small drop of water. Its main idea is that you can change what you're made of. Each form moves differently and gets past different obstacles, so a lot of the game is working out which one a spot needs.

It's built on physics: the droplet is springy, a puddle gets carried along glass tubes and bursts back up as a geyser, ice slides across hot floors and breaks glass, and vapor rides warm air and tailwinds.

There are four maps, each with its own goal, plus dew drops to collect, faster routes to find and a level select to replay any map. It runs in a web browser with a keyboard and mouse, and the whole game is about 190 KB.

The idea

A hero made of water

In EBB you're a small hero made of water. You run, jump and dash around as a bouncy droplet, and when you get stuck, you change what you're made of.

Each form gets you past different things. As a puddle you slide under gates, ride through glass tubes and shoot back up like a geyser. As ice you're heavy enough to hold down plates, you can sled across hot floors, and you smash through glass. As vapor you float, drift up on warm air and squeeze between bars.

The Sunken Conservatory
Floating up as vapor
The prompt that started it
Make a 3D platformer for keyboard and mouse. You play as a little hero made of water who runs, jumps and squishes when he lands. He can change form: melt into a puddle to slip under gates, freeze into ice to push heavy stuff, and turn into vapor to float on warm air. Start in a sunny greenhouse with an old fountain to wake up.
@ebbmaker

1 hour to playable110 versions to four maps

The build

260 prompts to four maps

Making a game on Tesana works like this: you describe what you want, Tesana builds it, and a few minutes later you're playing the new version. Then you say what to change and go again. Here's how EBB came together:

  1. StartThe first prompt
  2. 1 hourPlayable
  3. 21 daysFour maps
  4. 12 NovOut on Tesana

Tesana wrote all the code, made the 3D maps and the water, and hosts the game online. @ebbmaker decided everything else: what to add, what to change, and what didn't feel right yet.

Clip
Riding the glass tubes as a puddle in the Boiler Works

Adding the ice form took a single prompt:

@ebbmaker's prompt
Press Q to turn into a block of ice. It should be heavy enough to hold down plates, slippery enough to slide over hot floors, and hard enough to smash glass when it lands.

What got built

Four maps, three forms

Every map has its own tricks and its own goal:

  • The Sunken Conservatory: wake up the old fountain.
  • The Boiler Works: loop-the-loop pipes, hot floors and a ride up the chimney.
  • The High Aqueduct: water jets, tailwinds and a bell to ring, high above the clouds.
  • The Moonlit Cistern: glass floors, a tube ride and a walk over hot embers by lamplight.
Clip
Floating over the hot floors as vapor

Along the way it got a double jump, a dash, dew drops to collect, faster routes to find and a level select, so you can replay any map. The game page, the hosting and the link to share it all come with Tesana.

Clip
Crossing the embers in the Moonlit Cistern

Build stats

What it took

From the first prompt to all four maps:

  • 260 prompts to build all four maps.
  • 110 versions of the game along the way.
  • About 190 KB for the whole game, and it runs right in your browser.
The High Aqueduct
The Moonlit Cistern

EBB is out now on Tesana. Go give it a try.

How EBB came together

EBB started as one droplet bouncing around a courtyard and grew one idea at a time: a new form, then a place to use it, then a new map. You don't need the whole game planned out to start, just the first thing you want to see move.

  1. 22 Oct

    The idea

    A hero made of water that changes shape to get past things. That one sentence was enough to start.

  2. 1 hour in

    First jump

    A springy droplet bouncing around a sunny courtyard. Rough, but already fun to move around.

  3. Day 4

    Learning to change shape

    Melting, freezing and floating went in one at a time. Each form got its own key and its own obstacles, and that's when the puzzles started.

  4. Day 9

    Places to use them

    With three forms working, the game needed somewhere to use them: a boiler works with hot floors, glass tubes to ride and water jets above the clouds.

  5. Day 16

    Putting it all together

    The last map, the Moonlit Cistern, mixes everything: glass floors to break, a tube to ride and a walk over hot embers by lamplight.

  6. 12 Nov

    Game live on Tesana

    A link anyone can open and play in their browser.