The earliest drawings of a platformer series of games I wanted to make before scrapping it. Dates these were drawn on are June 19, July 9, and October 16, all 2023.
Working title was Jiffy’s Journey, and it would follow a green slime boy (Jiffy) and pink slime girl (Ruby) making their way through 6 worlds, each ending in a boss. I wanted all the characters to be bursting with personality.
The premise: Jiffy is tasked by his blue slime girl wife (Missy) to get milk from the store so she can make a food of some kind, and his best friend Ruby tags along for fun. Along the way, the adventure would get more and more convoluted and dangerous due to a robot invasion sent out by The Dark Lord (always referred to as The Dark Lord, never using pronouns or dropping the “the”). The Dark Lord would have been revealed at the end to actually be Jiffy’s red slime girl ex-girlfriend named Phelony (ha ha) and yeah.
The bosses were my favourite part of these projects. I wanted them to talk to the player through the levels in their world, speaking to them on tv screens and through speakers, taunting them or just saying random stuff.
General Drillby was the boss of world 1 and 5, being fought in his small form first and then in a mech in the second battle. Every common enemy drill bot would have the normal drill head, but he had a heated metal cone for a hat instead. He would have been in every single game in the series as he is a contract right hand man, he’ll serve whoever pays him. I love his design and his personality I gave him, and he MUST return in a future project. I actually hope to bring back a good chunk of the bosses I made for these games.
A random giant octopus unaffiliated with the main villain would have been world 2’s boss. Didn’t like him much.
Frosty Gunman was world 3’s boss. He had his own personal cylindrical tank that he called the skyscraper, because it was so tall. The battle would have been high above the ground, you’d chase him atop flying platforms and threw stuff at him.
The Bonemeister was world 4’s boss. His battle would have been very music oriented. Throughout the levels, he’d speak to the player very affably and want to be friends. Before the battle, he’d lament how he doesn’t want to kill them and then after, he’d befriend you.
Then yeah the 6th boss would have been The Dark Lord.
Also depicted amongst these drawings is the ghost mechanic. You know how in Cuphead, let’s say Mugman dies and his ghost flies out, then Cuphead has to quickly parry him to bring him back? Well this was similar, if say, Jiffy died, Ruby would have to run to his ghost as it flew and then grab it, take it to his body, and slam it back down into him. The ghost would move around, playing one of many instruments as it floated, so it was a bit of a challenge.
Anyway, I had a lot more crazy plans for the series I’ll show off eventually. Some of it’s been repurposed for the fairly tonally different point and click game I’m working on.