Slime's Dream: An Android Arcade Game
Slime Dream - Vertical Scroller Videogame
A self-published vertical endless runner for Android built with Godot Engine, featuring original pixel art and a synthwave atmosphere.
Watch gameplay:
The Game
Jump with your Slime as high as you can. 80s retro arcade pixel art style game. Go to the top with care not to hit the saws! Just touch ANYWHERE on the screen or you will fall to the arena. Bouncing from wall to wall, get through all the barriers of light in this vertical endless runner. Synthwave atmosphere!
What started as a simple concept evolved into a fully arcade experience. Players collect different characters to jump with, unlock medals, and compete on global leaderboards.
Development & Updates
The game was developed entirely in Godot Engine using GDScript as the programming language. Godot was chosen for its open source nature and I was able to find tutorials online to learn how to use it.
Throughout its active lifespan on the Play Store, I pushed many updates (from the initial v1.6 launch to v4.0.3), continuously integrating player feedback:
- Original pixel art: All sprites, tilesets, and animations were hand crafted in a retro pixel style
- Game physics: Custom slime physics providing bouncy, tactile movement
- Sound design: Original sound effects designed to complement the retro aesthetic
- Level design: Progressively challenging levels
- Content Expansion: Grew the roster to 19 unique playable slimes with different skins.
- Responsive Design: Implemented tablet support and dynamic screen resizing (
v1.6). - Competitive Mechanics: Added global cloud leaderboards and a persistent highest score tracking system (
v2.3). - Original Asset Creation: Hand crafted all sprites, tilesets, animations, and retro sound effects from scratch without utilizing external asset packs.
The Media Cascade
Looking back, Slime Dream became my first real lesson in how software travels, though I didn't realize it at the time. Back in 2018, I was 22, still figuring out how the industry worked and mostly just hitting buttons to see what happened. I didn't have a marketing budget or an agency; I just had the game and a few places where I thought people might actually care about arcade mechanics.
What I now see as a systematic "cascade" was, back then, just a series of exciting surprises as the project started penetrating global media layers.
Step 1: Just putting it out there (Aug 21, 2018)
I was 22 and just looking for a few honest players. I started by sharing the gameplay basics on YouTube and posting an announcement on r/AndroidGaming. I had no idea this would be the initial node of something bigger.
I was just happy seeing the welcome from the community and seeing so many people actually enjoying the game. My group of friends, and friends of friends, were probably the most competitive and we had a lot of fun. They spent hours trying to get the best score and reaching the top of the global leaderboard. Seeing people engage with something I built was an incredible feeling.
Step 2: Niche Interception (Aug 22, 2018)
To my surprise, tech journalists monitoring Reddit picked it up. They actually played it, liked the precision of the arcade feel, and put it in a roundup.
- Android Police: Bonus Round Feature
Step 3: Scaling up (Aug 26, 2018)
Once it survived that first editorial look, it moved up the chain. It was promoted to a flagship weekly list, which caught the eye of bigger syndicators across Europe.
- Android Police: 20 Best New Android Games
Step 4: A little bit of mainstream (Aug 27, 2018)
Then, Der Spiegel selected it as their App of the Week for the IFA Berlin coverage.
- Der Spiegel: IFA Berlin Coverage
Legacy & Archival Publishing
I originally self-published the game on the Google Play Store, managing the full pipeline from development to store listing and distribution.
While Google eventually sunsetted the game from the official store due to their policies regarding older API levels (requiring frequent framework updates), the incredible Android archival community preserved it.
You can still download the final version (4.0.3) today via APK archives and side-load it onto any Android device.