Celeste is a 2018 platform game developed and published by indie studio Maddy Makes Games. The player controls Madeline, a young woman with anxiety and depression who aims to climb Celeste Mountain. During her climb, she encounters several characters, including Part of You (also known as Badeline), a personification of her self-doubt who attempts to stop her from climbing the mountain.
Development of Celeste began in August 2015, when game developers Maddy Thorson and Noel Berry participated in a game jam, where they created Celeste for the PICO-8. Thorson, who served as producer, and Berry, who served as the lead programmer, wanted to expand the PICO-8 game into a full release. Inspired in part by Thorson’s own TowerFall (2013) and by Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988), the gameplay was designed to be minimal, while mirroring Thorson’s experiences with bouldering. Celeste was designed to be accessible, featuring game mechanics intended to make the game more forgiving in addition to an “Assist Mode” offering several options to make the game less challenging. The themes of self-forgiveness present in the narrative began with the idea of creating a “more introspective” game, and later grew to become intertwined with the gameplay. The soundtrack was composed by Lena Raine.
Celeste is a two-dimensional platform game. The player controls Madeline, who has the ability to run, jump, climb walls for a limited time, wall jump, and dash in mid-air in one of eight directions. Certain objects grant Madeline additional abilities. Green gems refill her dash ability without the need to land on the ground. Other objects include “dream blocks” that transport her from one side to another when dashed into, moving blocks that can transfer their momentum to Madeline when jumped off of, bubbles that move her when touched, and platforms that move after she dashes. The difficulty can be lowered through the use of an “Assist Mode”, a setting that provides accessibility options including a lowered game speed, unlimited use of the dash ability or the option to grant Madeline invincibility.
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