Stretch and Squash Overview 2024

Stretch and Squash is a Co-Op Puzzle platformer, inspired by the likes of It Takes Two and Psychonauts. You play as 2 mechanically distinct characters (Stretch and Squash) Stretch can stretch, Squash can squash.

I was the sole designer in a team of 9 in this 6 week project creating the initial concept of Stretch and Squash. The focus being on creating two characters with distinct playstyles. Our biggest inspirations being It Takes Two, Portal 2 and Psychonauts. The mock up of the team was: one designer, two programmers, three 2d Artists, two 3d Artists and one audio designer.

In the project, I took on the roles of both Systems and Level Designer due to the project's tight timescale. Here's a breakdown of my contributions:

Design:

• Produced Initial IP: Developed the initial intellectual property for the game.

• Character Design: Designed the mechanics and attributes for each player character, Stretch and Squash.

• Player Ability Mechanics: Defined the abilities and unique characteristics of each player character.

• Player Movement: Tweaked the player movement mechanics to embody the slimy characteristics of the characters.

• Puzzle Design: Crafted engaging puzzles that challenged players to utilize the abilities of both characters.

• Asset Lists: Created comprehensive asset lists for the puzzles to guide the art and development teams.

• Level Design: Designed the layout and structure of the game levels to facilitate gameplay and puzzle progression.

• External Playtesting: Conducted playtesting sessions with external participants to gather feedback and refine gameplay mechanics.

Production:

• Organizing Sprint Tasks: Managed and organized tasks for each sprint to ensure efficient progress.

• Creating Playtest Focus Groups: Established focus groups for playtesting sessions to gather targeted feedback on specific aspects of the game.

• Market Research: Conducted research on market trends and player preferences to inform design decisions.

• Feedback Forms: Developed feedback forms and surveys during pre-production to collect possible genre trends from our target market.

• Timeline Management: Managed the timeline for deliverables, ensuring that milestones were met and deadlines were adhered to.

Our decision to adopt the concept of slime-based characters early in the development process was driven by practical constraints. With limited resources and time constraints, animating complex anthropomorphic characters was not feasible. Instead, we opted for biomorphic slime balls as our characters, offering a visually engaging alternative that could be implemented more efficiently.

The naming of the characters, Stretch and Squash, was a playful homage to the animation principle of Squash and Stretch. Squash was designed with a thicker shape, while Stretch was taller, reflecting their respective namesakes. During playtesting, we observed distinct playstyles emerging, leading to one character naturally appealing to hardcore players. Embracing this dynamic, we focused on Squash as the option for hardcore players, while Stretch was tailored for those less skilled.

To further enhance the cooperative aspect of the game, we gave Squash more supportive abilities. This allowed players to assist Stretch through challenging sections, fostering a sense of teamwork and collaboration akin to It Takes Two. This decision not only balanced the gameplay experience but also added depth to the cooperative elements of the game.

This idea evolved throughout the development process, leading us to design Squash for a more hardcore gamer audience, while Stretch was geared towards more casual players. We achieved this by giving Squash more advanced movement mechanics compared to Stretch, as well as abilities to aid Stretch, like absorbing Stretch to throw them or squashing down to create a bounce pad. This design choice did not make the characters exclusive to those audiences but ensured that each character felt unique and helpful in their own way.

​The development of Stretch was quite complex behind the scenes, as the stretching technology required extensive work with shaders and splines. During the design process, I experimented with platforming sections to break up the flow of the levels. I noticed in playtests that Stretch players would attempt these sections but after failing, they would be able to bypass this with their stretching ability. I was sceptical at first, but it led to design approach where stretch players could navigate differently than squash players.

Some puzzles were designed with the vision of Stretch's sections being more cerebral. Had we had more time, I would have expanded on physics-based puzzles, allowing players to drag objects using Stretch's abilities. This added a layer of depth to the gameplay and provided a contrasting experience to Squash's more action-oriented mechanics.

This project was so much fun; I loved working in a genre that I hadn't really touched development-wise. The experience taught me the importance to iterate, iterate, iterate! We adopted a philosophy of maintaining a focused scope to keep the game polished. Many features were cut to concentrate on the core mechanics, which allowed us to refine and enhance the gameplay experience. I valued all feedback immensely, as it helped shape the game. The expo provided us with valuable insights that we could feasibly utilize, but with a major project looming, this might become a small side project to polish up rather than undergoing a big development cycle.