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Seems we havn't had many posts in this corner of DIC these past few days so I thought I'd make one
Programming a game can be quite challenging but there is also the challenge of making your game fun and playable. Many times when I've finished the programming side of my game and move onto making levels I have a hard time thinking of interesting ways of playing the game.
Here are some tips I have worked out through some of my own experiences, I hope some of you can share some of your own.
Making your game more difficult isn't the only way to progress.
Sometimes the urge to just throw a few faster or stronger enemies becomes strong, its easy to make your new levels with a new background and a lot more enemies, but is this actually getting anymore fun?
A good thing to do is to make more power ups or moves available and different ways of using them. A great example of this is the Legend of Zelda games, each dungeon unlocks a new way to play the game, the challenge is in mastering this new item. I'm not saying make the next zelda but you get my point
Bugs no matter how small are still bugs!
When I made my last game for a competition called snowball mountain I was immensely proud of it, to me it moved brilliantly and the levels were a joy to play () then the play testing came "why is his jump so quick", "you can float in mid air" and "I cant see the snowballs", me, gutted! lol. I can't stress enough to get some other people to play test your game because once you release it the feedback will mostly be redundant. Once you get this feedback take it onboard.
Gameplay over graphics!
The videogame critics mantra! This should be obvious I think, if you have to choose between a part of your game that looks a bit shoddy or a part that plays a bit shoddy then the latter should definitely come first. Most people will overlook a small graphical error (remember those unbelievably crap pop up cutscenes in mass effect) but being stuck on a game through no fault of their own will anger people faster than Jar Jar Binks.
I hope this has been some help and it would be great to hear from some of you other budding developers about this topic.
This post has been edited by stayscrisp: 15 Jul, 2009 - 02:04 AM
Ask the people who are going to play the game what they want. Ask them about ideas, levels, new game elements - anything they would consider that could make the game more interesting and fun. Users are an important link in the development process and their feedback is a great idea generation mechanism.
There are a lot of games out there that have a good story line. Trying to immerse your game players into a story can improve the quality of a game. This is especially true for RPGs and strategy games. In RPGs you can have amazing graphics and game play but the player will love to play more if they feel they become part of the story. That as their character develops the become wrapped up in the story. Even a simple side scroller, like Ghosts and Goblins for an example, had a story line. The knight's princess was captured by a demon and the knight had to rescue her. It is true that mindless blow everything up games are also fun, the same is true of sports, fighting, and other games that don't have a story so this is not true for all genres of games.
Theme Consitency This is another one that is important to follow, I would think. You should try and keep the game consistent and the atmosphere the same. What I mean is, if you have a theme where most of the game takes place in a snowy setting it would not be good to have a single level in a desert. The same would be true with sound. If you have a soft background music then in one level jump to hard rock, just for example, it would defeat the consitency of the game.
Atmosphere Building atmosphre is a part of almost all games. This goes with story line and consitency. You try and immerse the player into a different world. It is the same thing that is done in movies, tv shows, plays, books, stories. You try and help the player become part of the game world. A good sound track that fits in with your game can help with that.
Thanks for pinning Its something thats hard to discover mostly because there are no right answers just steps in the right direction.
hey dude..what probably games are you into? could you help me think what would be thesis that i'm going to do? could you pls help me on it?? that if you're willing to help then..
hey dude..what probably games are you into? could you help me think what would be thesis that i'm going to do? could you pls help me on it?? that if you're willing to help then..
If you start a new thread and give us more information I'm sure we will all be able to help you
If your game is going to be extremely complex, start it off extremely simple, and add in the more complex pieces as the player becomes familiar to the gameplay.
Tutorial levels suck, unless it is the VERY first level... I hate getting pulled out of the game, so it can teach me one of the new mechanics.
gamers like games with weapons and tools but they'll find it boring when they have to use it as it is all the time, the user should be able to customize his weapons or tools at some level,
unlockable items
along with the level system, there will be unlocked items at every level, it's what keep the gamer keep leveling up,
the weird part of the game, sometimes weird and scary
gamers would tell others to check it out, although it's secretly a programmer made !
give the user the choice at some important events
like if the user want to be a good boy or a bad boy, or the choice to use something in scope of fights ...
Since we covered items in games and how they can add extra gameplay elements I thought I would mention power ups.
Adding Power Ups
Power ups instantly change your game for a short period of time, lets say you have just finished your first pong, asteroids or arkanoid clone, try adding power ups that change the gameplay slightly.
Ideas:
Speed Boost
Temporary weapon upgrades
Invincibilty
Shields
Extra lives
Disposable Items (i.e Bigger weapons)
There are a lot more possibilities such as fake power ups that do harm instead of good and also collectables like the coins in Super Mario.
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) then the play testing came "why is his jump so quick", "you can float in mid air" and "I cant see the snowballs", me, gutted! lol. I can't stress enough to get some other people to play test your game because once you release it the feedback will mostly be redundant. Once you get this feedback take it onboard.
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