The fourth prototype from the Omen IV Intern Prototype Collection: Pulse Rider.
Pulse Rider removes one of the most fundamental assumptions of a platformer: you do not simply run from platform to platform — you launch yourself. Controlling a small creature in an environment built at a much larger scale, movement revolves around aiming a launch, judging the trajectory, and committing to it. The character becomes the projectile.
The movement mechanic works like a combination of a slingshot and a golf shot: choose a direction, launch across the environment, and read the flight. Chained double-launches add mid-air corrections, longer jumps, route changes and recovery from imperfect launches — traversal becomes a sequence of deliberate bursts rather than continuous movement.
Because the playable creature is tiny relative to its surroundings, everyday spaces become enormous landscapes: furniture, counters and walls become traversal terrain. You study the space, commit to the shot, and fly. Every platform is a target; every landing sets up the next one.
Pulse Rider is our experiment in making movement itself the mechanic — proof that a platformer can be about trajectory, commitment and reading space.