World 3 / Quest 11

Enemies & Hazards

Something that walks. Something that stabs. A hero that flinches.

You’ll learn

• Patrol enemies: walking back and forth without falling off
• Hazards vs enemies (and why you need both)
• Hit reactions: knockback, blinking, invincibility frames
• Using lives you already know how to build

Briefing

Start prompt

Steps

1. 1

   One patrol enemy

   Give the full picture: what the enemy looks like (use your art, or a red rectangle), where it starts, and the rule: walk until the edge of the platform, then turn around. One enemy. Test it. Does it fall off? Say what you see.

   Say this to Coach

   Add one enemy on the second platform. It walks left and right at a slow speed and turns around when it reaches the edge of its platform — it never falls off. Use my enemy art if it's in assets, otherwise a red rectangle. Just one enemy for now.

   Copy
2. 2

   Touching the enemy hurts

   Now the rule: touching an enemy costs a life. Wire in the 3 hearts you know from Dodge!. One thing: just the life loss and hearts. No knockback yet. Test it — and notice how bad it feels to lose all your lives in one touch. That's the problem you fix next.

   Say this to Coach

   When the hero touches the enemy, lose 1 life. Show 3 hearts in the top-left like my Dodge! game. Don't add knockback or blinking yet — I want to feel the problem first.

   Copy
3. 3

   Make getting hit feel fair

   Three things, one at a time: (1) knockback — the hero bounces away from the enemy, (2) blink — the hero flashes for one second, (3) invincibility — while blinking, the hero can't be hit again. Do them in that order, testing each.

   Say this to Coach

   When the hero gets hit: first job, knock the hero back away from the enemy a little. I'll test. Then make the hero blink for 1 second. Then, while blinking, the hero can't be hit again.

   Copy
4. 4

   Spikes

   Hazards: put spikes somewhere sneaky (below a gap, on top of a platform you have to jump over). Same hit reaction as enemies. Decide: do spikes take one life, or all of them? That's your call as designer. Say it.

   Say this to Coach

   Add spikes — use a spike picture if I have one, or gray triangles. Put them at the bottom of the gap between the two floating platforms. Touching spikes takes 1 life. Use the same knockback and blink as enemies.

   Copy
5. 5

   Stomp? Your call.

   Design decision: can the hero defeat the enemy by jumping on its head (like Mario)? Or are enemies untouchable (like a lot of hard platformers)? Ask for options on how a stomp could work, then choose. If you add it, use your Sound Lab hit sound.

   Say this to Coach

   Give me 3 options for what happens when the hero lands on TOP of an enemy — from 'nothing special' to 'the enemy is defeated and the hero bounces'. I'll pick.

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6. 6

   Game over, then checkpoint

   When lives hit zero: your game-over screen from Juice It, with the explosion sound, best score if you have a score, and restart. Then checkpoint 'danger'.

   Say this to Coach

   When lives reach 0, show the game-over screen with the explosion sound and a restart on SPACE. Then save a checkpoint called 'danger'.

   Copy

Side quests +10 XP each

Stuck?

• Enemy walks off the platform? Say what you see: "I expected the enemy to turn at the edge, but it walked off and fell."
• Hero loses all lives in one touch? That's exactly the bug this quest fixes — go to the 'feel fair' step.
• Hero gets stuck inside the enemy? "When hit, push the hero away from the enemy so they don't overlap."

More ways to get unstuck