Barnabé Falls
Role
Creator: game design, design & development
Client
Personal project
Year
2026
Duration
In development
Context
Barnabé Falls is the platformer of the Barnabé Goat universe: you play Barnabé, a goat thrown through spike-filled levels, hunting for socks. I am building it on my own, end to end: the game mechanics, the levels, the visual universe, the interface, the code and the physics. It runs in the browser, with a keyboard, a controller or touch.
Challenge
A demanding platformer is only fun if it feels fair: when you die, you need to know it was your fault, and want to try again right away. It all comes down to the controls, level readability and the pace between two attempts.
Approach
I wrote the physics and controls myself, with the tuning that makes a jump feel good, such as coyote time and jump buffering, and an instant restart after each death. Levels ramp up in difficulty on a world map, with a timer, a death counter and a sock to collect. The leaderboard only counts a time after replaying it in full on the server. The cartoon universe, with thick black outlines, is shared by the game and its interface.
