Games developed by Edwin Franco
Mimicry is officially live on Steam!!!
It’s on sale for a week at $4.50
You can purchase it here!
I hope some of you get to try it out and enjoy it.
My first full game is officially out!
Use a gamepad preferably.
Thanks to everyone that got me here.
Update: To backout in the home menus, press “Backspace” on PC or “Delete” on MAC. Gamepad controllers is my preferred way to play
Please “wishlist” Mimicry to be alerted about its release. Then purchase it on 9/4. It’ll only be 5 bucks, and on day 1 will be at a discount.
About 2 weeks ago my friend Kay and I took part in the GameMaker’s Toolkit 2020 gamejam. We only had 48 hours to make a game based on the theme “Out of Control.” We ended up making a unique little game about something I have a lot of experience with; being unable to control 4 chihuahuas at once.
While the game is unfinished in many ways, it was playable and a cool proof of concept. We weren’t allowed to edit it until the rating period was over, where anyone was able to play and review submitted games.
They announced the rankings.
…
Out of 5430 games, we ranked #548. 😂
While that number may not seem too high, it means we ranked higher than 5000 games and got in the top 10% roughly. Overall, I’m happy with that. I hope to edit the game very soon and make it a much more finished small game. Thanks Kay!
This is a real life struggle for me.
If you like Wario-Ware games, dogs, want a challenge, or also suck at games, give it a try. We did what we could in 2 days while having our own lives.
When I was a little boy, I knew I wanted to be a game designer more than anything. I lost count of how many times I failed, had educators put me down, and had friends say I’m delusional. I spent most of my adult life not accepting to move on to “something else.” I was starting to think that there was something wrong with me. I felt like a loser and fell rock bottom a few times. I felt like I had nothing left at one point, but I never quit.
I worked damn hard.
Two weeks ago, I released my first mobile game (Hot Dog Classic), and just last week something amazing happened. I started my very first day as a professional game designer.
Finally.
It took me so long to reach this point, but it happened. One of my main goals is now accomplished, but this is only the beginning. I’ve got massive plans for myself. To everyone that’s been supportive, thank you. Thank you so much.
I wanted to share how things led to this. I squeezed myself into a presentation that I wasn’t advertised for, put my heart into it, prepped for a month, invited everyone I knew, and treated it like a massive job interview. Some important people were there who approached me after for days. I was then told that I was first in line for a new game design position. I spent the next three months working 11 hours days to study multiple tools, stayed hungry, and waited.
Don’t give up. Ever.
My first ever mobile game is out today on the Google Play Store!!!!! Please support and share by downloading HOT DOG CLASSIC!!! It’s a simple hot dog eating contest button masher you can play with another person while waiting in lines at the DMV, for a roller coaster, while getting a pedicure, or even while waiting for your actual hot dogs to grill. iPhone and iPad users, hang tight. Currently it’s only available on Android. Hope you all support! Thanks!
A big thank you to Jason Smith for helping with brainstorming on characters and for supplying all this awesome art. 
Today marks 2 years since the birth of Anxiety Monster. To briefly tell the story again, in 2017 I was working on a game with my talented friend Allyssa De La Torre for the Indiecade Resist Jam. We needed a team name to submit our game. Anxiety Monster came to me and it just made perfect sense, considering the topics I want to eventually discuss in games. It only made sense to publish a short game I was developing with Allyssa on this occasion. It’s a game about eating Ramen. Yep!
Noodle Nightmare Tonight is a ramen eating challenge game. Race a rival to see who can eat a bowl of ramen fastest. This game is a 2-player only mini-game.
Some things still need to be worked on, but the majority of the experience is there. I’ll eventually add original sound and music, as well as a brief tutorial. Please Enjoy!
October is here! Things will be getting spooky starting now!
So what’s on the October list for Anxiety Monster? Well, I often think up video game ideas while I eat at a ramen restaurant. Not sure why. Maybe because I tend to treat myself, giving me alone time and a chance to be creative. Maybe it’s because ramen is a comfort food. Whatever the case, eating ramen works like magic for me. Since ramen tends to bring out the inner mad scientist in me, I decided to make a game about the delicious noodle dish. And since it’s Halloween season, it’s gonna be spooky. Look out for Noodle Nightmare Tonight! 🙂
That’s not all. I also will continue development of my multiplayer hotdog eating challenge game, HotDog Classic. I hear you though! Another game about food? How are hotdogs spooky? Are you that hungry? Ramen and hotdogs are way too different, what’s wrong with you? Hotdog Classic actually will feature a few monsters as playable characters. In my demo reel, you can see a certain familiar character make an appearance.
Aside from these two, I’ll be hard at work learning Japanese, working full time, focusing on my health, and hiking with my puppies. I can’t wait to finish these two games this month. Additionally, I expect to add some levels for Glider, perhaps art as well. I’ll also be doing some small demos for new ideas. Perhaps I’ll share those as well. And lastly, I’ll add a few new game design documents, game design breakdowns, and analysis docs, so look out for that.
Thanks for reading,
Edwin
Recently I added a lot of new content to the site. I’ve posted four game design documents, with plenty more to come. The goal is to get used to writing them professionally, so I’m expecting to eventually write one for every game I’ve posted. Now followers can get an idea of how I plan things out. I’ve also uploaded Game Design and Level Design Breakdown of three of my games. Again, I’m expecting do a lot more of these breakdowns in both written and video versions. With these documents, I’m explaining the specifics of my design decisions. Lastly, I’ll added Level Design Analysis written posts and of existing games. This is a great thing to practice if you’re trying to be a strong game designer. Tabs for these can be found on website. Hope you all enjoy!
Best,
Edwin
1-1 Make Eggs, Throw Eggs is the first true level of Yoshi’s Island. Prior, the player goes through a clear tutorial level that functions a bit different from the rest of the game and focuses to teach the player the familiar jumping mechanic. To differentiate itself even further, the tutorial stage is even excluded from the world map. I want to focus this analysis on 1-1, because this is the level that manages to teach the player what the game is really about, throwing eggs. This stage communicates the two fundamental mechanics and a lot of ideas surrounding them.
The first thing the level teaches is how to throw eggs in a variety of ways. There’s a signpost that is convientally surrounded by 3 coins to attract the player towards it, having it seem important. This sign tells the player about eating enemies to create eggs, and then simply saying, “Now try throwing the egg, press A!” It encourages the player to explore the throwing mechanic.
Now that the player has some familiarity with throwing eggs, they’ll soon learn about this mechanic’s versatility, since there are plenty of objects to interact with. The player can try to toss an egg at an object and miss by accidentally releasing towards the ground. This is important because it teaches the player that eggs will ricochet off the ground and solid surfaces. Question Mark Clouds, Shyguys, Piranha Plants, signposts, coins, and puzzle elements like the red flower in the optional section are other objects that can interact with the egg.
When the eggs collide with the Question mark cloud, a variety of behaviors can come about. The clouds can create bridges, drops seeds that grow into a giant plant for vertical ascension, and drop collectable stars. Attacking them with an egg is always driven by mystery. However only the final Question Mark cloud must be hit with an egg for completion of the level. The others are optional. If the player ignores all question mark clouds, and a signpost that explains the Question Mark Clouds, eventually they’ll progress near the end where they will face a road block, forcing them to interact with the Question Mark cloud. The cloud is at a jump’s distance, so the player can perhaps attempt to interact with it that way. They can try to eat it afterwards, however those ideas won’t work. The only thing the player has left to try is throwing an egg at it. Doing so causes the cloud to drop a seed, which then grows into a giant plant with leaves as platforms. Once the player sees this happening, they’ll possibly want to revisit the question mark clouds that they didn’t interact with.
Shyguys in the hidden optional portion are holding coins and flying. Shyguys can be see walking, and hopping. Each one behaving differently. While they can all be hit with eggs, only the flying shuguys can solely be defeated by eggs, unless a platform is high enough for Yoshi to reach the shyguy and eat them.
The piranha plants block a warp pipe, attracting the player to perhaps want to go through. Since the plants block the way, the player can try eating them, but they’ll fail since the piranhas can’t be eaten. The only other option would be to shoot an egg, the correct choice to vanishing the foe.
Piranha Plants also teach the player patience. Since Yoshi must protect Baby Mario, being separated causes Mario to cry. You then have ten seconds to reunite with Baby Mario, otherwise you fail the level. Piranha Plants appear throughout the level and must be defeated by egg tosses. If you take your time and walk through the level, you’ll see the Piranha Plants emerge, giving you enough time to respond. However, if you decide to speed through the level, you are likely to be hit by the Piranha Plant, thus separating you from Baby Mario and dispersing some of your eggs. Then, when Baby Mario is separated from Yoshi, the player will be introduced to the soundtrack of cries, an alarm, and a blinking arrow pointing at Baby Mario. This creates a tense moment, a bit of panic in the player, and showing how important it is to protect the fragile baby. The blinking arrows pointing at Baby Mario, the descending timer, and the scary jarring sound is the game’s way of telling the player, “Get this baby before this timer runs out, or else you lose.” Through this very simple collision with the enemy, players learn how Piranha Plants behave, how they affect you and Baby Mario, how much time you can be apart from the baby, what happens to your inventory of eggs, how you must pick up your eggs that scattered, how you should choose taking your time over speeding through, and even giving you a clue as to how to defeat them. A lot of situations are covered by this single collision. Now, the player can be introduced to Baby Mario’s separation in the tutorial level, and by colliding with a Shyguy at any point. In my playthrough, I learned with the Piranha Plant. I find this enemy to be a likelier introduction to Baby Mario’s separation due to it’s tricky behavior and difficulty.
The versatility of egg throwing allows interaction with a Baby Mario, the ground, walls, warp pipes, Piranha Plants, Shyguys, other enemies, flowers, Question Mark Clouds, coins, collectables, and of course bosses.
With the exception of bosses, all this is taught in the first level. 1-1 concludes with a break in the ground, going from a yellowish grassy and flowery surface, to a jarring green with white stripes, and a pulsing ring made of blue dots and flowers. With only a glance, players may be able to tell that this is the finish line. And for the players that don’t understand this, they can easily find out by simply walking forward into the finish ring.
