Hello citizens Stopgeimovtsy. Now I will simultaneously promote my game project for Android, which has as many as 24 downloads at the moment, and lead a discussion about game design. You can play here. Why 24 downloads is a topic for another conversation, marketing. And now – Game design with a capital G.
How it all begins
Imagine one day that the stars aligned in such a way that you played two very different games, but in your mind they combined into something more. This happened to me too. These games were Islanders and, unexpectedly, those same Heroes 3. What will happen if 2 players build buildings on a field with a limited size?? Even better, building combinations between the enemy and you will give bonuses to both of you. In this case, the player needs to think about how his enemy might respond to his move. This is how a Core idea is created. Then the processing of the idea begins until its “real” implementation.
Idea testing
Testing the idea consists of laying out cards on the floor and trying to play with yourself with this very idea, each time changing some random system parameter (one) during the game session in order to get the most interesting game result.
Since the Core idea already described the main gameplay and was simple, it was easier for me than for other game designers who use the principle of designing “on paper”. For example, in shooters you have to draw an entire level, count shots and player movements in the level using cut out circles and a ruler (for the flight of a bullet). This allows you to roughly imagine how the player will act and begin to manipulate him as a game designer. A good example of shooter game design is DOOM Eternal, where the game designer forces the player to rush forward into close combat, giving him treatment and ammo for this. Yes, all good games are when you don’t play the game, but the game designer plays with you, your mental patterns and behavior.
My design on "Paper" looked like this:
– I lay out the cards face down in the form of a field.
– I lay out other cards next to each other. Red (diamonds, hearts) are my player, black (crosses, spades) are the enemy.
– I play by placing cards on shirts. First your own, then the enemy’s, to prevent yourself from collecting combinations.
– I suffer from the fact that the number of cells on the level is odd, and I take one more turn.
– I’m removing the problem.
– Repeat the game.
– I understand that you need a hexagonal field, not a square one, because.To. there are too many connections on the field and the second player cannot do anything against me.
– I’m removing the problem.
– Repeat the game.
– Etc.d.
The main questions to ask yourself:
– Will I be able to pull this idea off?. You’re not an experienced studio. The chance of success of your product is minimal. Can you at least finish development??
I don’t need millions in profits, what’s important is demonstrating the idea, playing my game with the player. The idea itself is so simple to implement that it won’t take days to draw the movement of the main character’s cloak. There are only static pictures of houses and a dictionary of bonuses from combinations.
– If you have a limited field, what are its boundaries??
I assigned an approximate number per player move – 20 seconds and an average match time of 5 minutes. It turned out 5*(60/20) = 15 moves. Since the bot moves instantly, we don’t count its time. There should be 15+15 = 30 squares on the field for two players.
– What are the conditions for victory and defeat??
Free cells are running out, t.To. there are a limited number of them. Therefore, as a standard, the game should end when there are no more cells. Who is the winner? – the one who scores more points.
– How many different buildings can a player build in one match??
Psychology books say that a person can remember a maximum of 3 to 5 objects at the same time. Experience in other games suggests that we use only a couple of spells from the spell book for almost 100% of game situations. Yes, and only 5 pieces fit comfortably on the mobile interface. Therefore, we take 5 pieces.
– Square or hexagonal field?
The difference between a hexagonal field and a regular, square one is not immediately clear. But its essence is as follows – on a hexagonal field around a cell there are 6 cells, and on a square field – 8. Those two extra cells make a huge difference. On a square field it is impossible to prevent the enemy from building combinations of 4-6 buildings, while on a hexagonal field the maximum number of buildings in a combo is 3-4. Since the number of buildings is not large and there are not many moves, we choose the second option.
Graphics can be obtained in the following ways:
– You draw it yourself
– You give it to the artist and he draws what you need for money or for free. But even for money, he may get tired of everything and you will have to redraw everything again with the help of another artist. Very few artists will want to repeat the style of your previous.
– You buy an Asset Pack on some site. But in the end you will need a sprite that is not there and you will redraw everything.
– A secret technique that I will tell you about only after 150 likes on this post and 200 downloads of my game :3 (it was not used in the current version of the game)
Engine:
– I https://bingositesnotongamstop.co.uk/5-deposit-bingo/ have a 2D mobile game. Unreal Engine is no longer needed.
– The computer assembles a scene in Unity in 5 seconds. The studio opens in minutes. Unity is no longer needed.
– I want to write code, not crawl around in gooey boxes. Gamemakers/Constructs are no longer needed.
Remains Godot.
Music:
Since the game was planned for mobile devices, and they are played mainly in the subway, I simply leave the choice of music in the playlist to the player without introducing it into the game. Perhaps it will appear in the future.
Mathematics
The idea seems to be proven, it’s interesting to play, it doesn’t create any logical collisions. You can start creating logic for object interaction. In this case, this interaction is bonuses from combinations, bonuses for risk, bonuses for initiative.
What is this anyway??
Bonuses from combinations – this is a bonus for thinking through the game in advance, for knowing the mechanics and calculating the future. The further back in time you can calculate your game, the more points you get.
Risk bonuses – this is a bonus for risky moves when your opponent may have a clear answer to your combination. Therefore, you can spend turns to clarify this information, or take a chance and gain a big advantage.
Initiative Bonuses – in turn-based games, the first player has initiative advantage. But in a limited space with the ability of a second player to respond to your sloppy moves, the initiative bonus is roughly equal for two players.
Accordingly, t.To. The combination bonus is the main one for this game, it is important to calculate the number of possible combos in cases where you are trying to create a complex combination, and the enemy is trying to stop you.
After this, you need to select the minimum number of points per round that the player without combinations should receive. I chose 3 points. T.e. building something that doesn’t provide any options or combinations costs 3 points. Since each point can lead to victory or defeat, combinations should not greatly increase their number. It is important that it be more than weaker combinations.
For 15 moves we got the following data (approximately):
1 building – combo 15 times – player gets 3 points
2 building – combo 14 times – player gets 3 points + 1 per combo for an average of 4 points
3 building – combo 10 times – player gets 3 points + 1.5 points average 4-5 points
4 building – combo 3 times – player gets 3 points + 5 for combo + 4 points for risk
5 building – impossible
The mathematics of the main objects is ready.
Diversity
At this point, a game prototype has already been made (move the building and get points). We played it and the players liked it. This is Core mechanics. Now it’s hard to call it a game, it lacks variety.
Game diversity is no different from human diversity. Everyone has two legs and does roughly the same thing, but we consider it "different".
How to make variety?
– Add neutral buildings that are already on the cells at the beginning of the game and interfere with the construction of buildings on certain cells.
– Add buildings that will give bonuses only from buildings initially standing on the cells. These are the "starter" buildings. They are good at the beginning of the game, but completely useless towards the end, since the free cells nearby have already run out. Now neutral buildings become starting points for the development of player combinations.
– Add buildings that will prevent the enemy from making combinations and give you an advantage.
– Develop the idea of interference and add “zoner” buildings, which will interfere with the construction of buildings in some area.
– Add levels with a move limit, but no cell limit.
– Add levels where you must lose to the enemy to win.
– Add levels by gaining a certain number of points.
And much, much more. Good Core mechanics allow you to add almost endless additional mechanics into the gameplay, although in essence it is the same accumulation of points, just for different events.
In fact, RPGs/Diabloids and other games where the player controls one hero are the most boring genre of game design (hereinafter, to reduce the letters, I will call it an RPG, although it is not only an RPG). In RPGs there are only two parameters – damage per turn and the amount of health before death, t.e. time you can deal damage. The one who can no longer deal damage loses. That’s it, this whole game. All the upgrade branches and other bells and whistles are easy DIVERSITY.
Examples of diversity:
– Stun is an increase in your health (the time you can deal damage before dying) by the amount of damage that the enemy did not deal while stunned.
– Evasion of 50% is an increase in your health by 2 times.
– Damage protection of 50% is an increase in your health by 2 times.
– Dots are an increase in your damage per turn by the damage caused by the dot due to one turn when the dot was applied.
– Absorbing 5 points of damage is an increase in your health by 5 points times the number of enemy attacks before you die.
I can go on and on, but out of these millions of parameters, it all comes down to the two above – the damage dealt and the time you can deal damage.
And now, let’s break you completely. Damage and time can be represented as trapezoids (rectangles in the picture)
The rogue’s damage is not reduced, I simply reduce the size of the image by making the y-axis positive in two directions
Once the information is presented in the form of rectangles, the RPG becomes a game about whose rectangle area is greater, the player or his opponents. Everything is like in the shower. As I said, it’s a boring genre, but you still have to live with it.
Testing and Refinement
After developing a dozen levels, you need to test the idea on a large number of people to get feedback. After this, having processed the feedback, you move on to the second iteration of the project, where you complete new levels and refine old ones based on feedback. The number of iterations will depend on your desire and capabilities. The more iterations, the less effect they have, but the higher the quality of the game.
The very essence of iterations for me is in the development of game design. In HBT, I challenge both myself (to make each level feel different) and the player (playing on their vicious feelings). Yes, the whole game is built on making you reject your behavior patterns and look at the world differently, which in my opinion is what puzzles should do.
Fun iteration moments:
– Since I couldn’t draw a palm tree, I first drew a bunch of cacti. I thought it was a forest. Because of this, not a single player could pass the second level, where you need to build sawmills, even 10 times, since a cactus is not a tree.
– The "IQ test" level is the level at which most players quit the game because they cannot pass it due to their desire to always lead in points.
– The "Dominance" level is the same as the "IQ test" level, but for adults. You need to build a useless building on it to win. Without introducing clues it completely broke human nature. The most acute emotional reactions were here.
– Based on about 50 testers from close circles and random users, we can assure that the game is suitable only for 10% of schizoids. The remaining recipients either silently delete the game or yell and throw out the phone (mostly females). Theoretically, I explain this as unpreparedness for the destruction of the inner world.