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They drifted through the endless tunnel of the Inception Gateway, deeper and deeper into the blank void, chasing the shimmer of a dying world reborn. At last they emerged onto the floating planetoid—an impossible wonderland woven from fevered dreams and fractured hope—where nothing was quite as it seemed. Their task was simple: deliver the synapses to the planet’s pulsing core. But as they pressed on, the edges of fantasy began to fray, the dream collapsing, reality seeping back in like ink bleeding through parchment.
Level 0 : The Pathway
A snippet. From the first level in my game Astral. The player is inside the protagonists mind. In the lucid dream and travelling the the planet "Apothica".
Through this dire brain network projected into a 2d void, navigate this first area and get to the portal.
Use the dreamscapes, small memory fragments located in the image to guide yourself through this area and reach the portal to Apothica.
Level 1 : The Skies of Apothica
The first level into Apothica. After entering the portal in the dream gateway. Players are placed on mountains in the sky. Following the level, many dreamscapes will be available to give the player some advice. This pocket platformer game will focus more on surrealism and narrative elements rather than super fast and hard levels.
The second part to the skies of apothica. Red doors are now appearing. The skies are becoming more sinister and deadlier. The player must travel through and try not to be eraced by the dangers.
Level 2 : The gateway 2
After leaving the skies of apothica , the player has been teleported back into the gateway. But this time it is even harder. The gateway is struggling to stay compiled.
In this harder version of the gateway. The red zones are spreading. Fracturing into the dream. Avoid them at all cost and open the doorway to enter the portal and reach the Ground of Apothica.
Here are the images of assets that I created myself. The red zone represents the out of bounds. The Blue circle is a portal, that allows the dreamer to continue to the next level. The third is a standard block , used in the gateways. The fourth is a dreamscape , players can interact with. The last one is the players start point.
Level 3 : The Ground
After the last gateway from the skies of apothica. We are now getting closer to the core of the planet.Here in this section, the player is encountering the dream beginning to collapse down. Things are not supposed to be the way they are. Doors are in the sky and the key is hidden away.
In this level of the game the player will have to go around obstacles, dodge the red zone.
The door ways to get to the ending of the level. I tried to bring out as much surrealism as i can. The player is lead through the level with the NPC's however the player must find the key to escape.
Level 4 : The Gateway
Between the ground of Apothica and the core, this gateway makes the player climb to the top. Rather than the last one where we had to take a leap of faith. Some things got brought into this such as the bouncers to help players, as well as the doors and lasers.
The player travels upwards , through the dream clouds, then the dream stars and then to the planets towards the gateway ending. The gateway portal at the top will transfer the lucid dreamer protagonist to the core.
Level 5 : The Core
This is the last level of my short game Astral. The player has reached the core of Apothica and must take all of the synapses to the end. This will ensure that the lucidity can transfer the players real body to Apothica and escape the dying earth to inhabit a new home and bring new life.
For this level I created some new assets , that include a new seamless block texture for the core and as well as a green organism that lives underground. The organism is animated and it ties all the aesthetics together. When reading this please take into account that i have spent time sourcing the right sound effects and background music. Please use headphones to experience the full package of my game Astral.
Developed by me and only me, In Pocket Platformer Engine.