What is Praetor?

Praetor is the thirteenth prototype which Josh created in the process of finding his thesis. It is a roughly hour-long metroidvania third person shooter, featuring a unique mechanic set which allowed players to attach and detach bodyparts to their player character. Each body part granted the player a new power or ability - you can now walk on lava, your bullets are electrified, enemies explode when they die, your dash is extra long. Through these changes in play, Josh built out more than thirty levels for the player to explore and navigate. Incorporating elements from his favorite designs, he was able to build a strong prototype.

Ultimately Josh had decided not to continue working on Praetor, as it wasn’t targeting the needs he had for his project. As he transitioned away from Praetor, he was able to use the majority of his tools to build several other prototypes. One of those prototypes became his graduate thesis, Godwalker.

The world and mechanics of Praetor were grand. Coming off of the iterative design process of Rock Hopper, Josh had learned a significant amount about level, environment, and combat design. He used this as an opportunity to showcase his level design skills. Praetor, in many ways, was a sketch book filled wtih unrefined drawings that would ultimately go unused.

As the world of Praetor continued to expand, Josh added new mechanics to help make the environment feel more and more like a complete space. He explored concepts of platforming, environmental puzzles, and other methods of manipulating the space. The ultimate reward for completing the game is a gun which teleports you where ever you shoot. Players began to use this to no-clip out of bounds, and discover all of the secrets of the game.

Praetor served as an exercise in game design. It was a blank canvas without any specific needs or requirements. It let Josh explore his ideas in a sandbox with the tools he had been working on since he began. Without Praetor, Josh would not be the developer he is today.

Praetor can be downloaded and played for free from Itch.io.