Unfortunetly, the thread in the Software section never got any feedback, so I am reposting here, as it has more traffic than tech talk.
YES I WILL MAKE A GIRL CHARACTER.
With that out of the way...
This is a game I am working on. It now has a level editor, movement physics, etc...
I've decided to release it early for some good opinions or ideas on what I could add or fix!
Here is the download: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21499454/Games/advballboy.rar
Photos: https://www.dropbox.com/gallery/21499454/1/BalloonBoy?h=6a0fcb
CONTROLS - GAME
Arrows left/right - Move on X-Axis
Up/Down Arrows - Inflate/Deflate
R - Retry
Esc - Main Menu
CONTROLS - EDITOR
Arrow Keys - Scroll level
LMB - Place Objects
1-9 - Pick Obj
1 - Block
2 - Player Spawn
3 - Spikes4 - Exit
NUMARROWS - Angle (Face Towards, For Spikes)
F8 - Load Level
F9 - Save Level
Del - Delete Objects
Esc - Exit to Main Menu
Nice stuff so far. I had a similar idea, except the inflated person would be immobile and you would control a pointer to manipulate them and their surroundings, "The Incredible Machine" style. I look forward to seeing more things added to this in future... Perhaps air currents and such to control your movement?
I'm assuming it's because it's still in early stages, but I hope the graphics gets spruced up a bit. Not sure I like the way the head is a bit off-center from the rest of the body... Also, could the arms and legs maybe inflate a bit? I'm not familiar with game design myself so I don't know how difficult it would be to implement that.
This is maybe asking a bit much, but would I be able to talk to you on AIM or YIM if you use them? I do a bit of pixel art here and there and I could maybe help you out if you need any with graphics. I've got some examples here if you want to take a look:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v85/EnoRed/Sprites/Girl-ViewFBS.gif
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v85/EnoRed/Sprites/GreyDuckBalloon.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v85/EnoRed/Sprites/FanboyNFL8Mildred.gif
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v85/EnoRed/SplashWoman16bit.png
I don't know whether pixel art would work with the squashing and stretching in the game engine, but maybe give it a try? Let me know if you're interested.