LAZR Strikes a Careful Balance Between Open-World Mechanics and Classic Platforming

gamerant.com:

Open-world games are important to Garrick Campsey. The indie developer grew up playing games like Grand Theft Auto, which are built around free-roaming sandboxes that allow players to explore and experiment.

Now, nearly a decade since he started designing games as a hobby, Campsey is hard at work on his first major project — cyberpunk platformer LAZR. Campsey’s game isn’t just any side-scroller, though. In addition to a unique traversal mechanic that uses a physics engine to simulate cloth, the solo dev is implementing a bevy of ambitious features that make LAZR almost as reminiscent of an open-world game as a platformer. Game Rant sat down with Campsey to discuss how he struck that balance and built a title that stands out in the genre.

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LAZR’s Steam page describes the game as a “new era of physics-based platforming.” The gameplay, which sees players take on hordes of enemies and bosses across nearly 100 levels of cyberpunk-inspired cityscape, has an equally heavy focus on traversal. In particular, some of LAZR’s levels employ cloth-like lattice that players must utilize to cross certain obstacles.

It’s a unique concept, and one that Campsey said arose from a friendly challenge. “The origins of the game actually came from a Discord conversation I had with a friend of mine in Germany, in which he challenged me to put cloth into a platformer,” he said. “So I did, with some sprites I had lying around.”

Campsey used a physics system known as Verlet integration to simulate cloth. Whereas other physics simulators would create cloth elements that behave differently every time they’re interacted with, Verlet integrations ensure the same