(Quick) Game Design Document for the June 1st Game

High Level:

Zero-G sidescrolling maze/platformer where the player must deflect off of surfaces in order to navigate the maze.

(some) Details

Mouse-based control

Player will begin with character sticking to a surface

Pressing the mouse button will cause the character to launch towards the mouse cursor.

When the character hits a surface, the character will either stick (if possible) or will deflect off of it.

Pressing the mouse button while deflecting (holding beforehand will also work) will cause the character to accellerate towards the mouse.

Flash: Fix the bug so that as soon as the player chooses a zoom level, the game starts right up (and immersion can begin). Since this is a mouse-based game, selecting stuff with a mouse is still logical.

Nice-to-have features (in order of priority)

To keep the scope small, these are features that, while nice to have, can be left out if necessary:

• Multiple Levels with multiple exits
  • Some exits should be easier to reach than others, and not necessarily lead to the same place
• Branching level design
  • Choosing one exit over another should have an impact on future levels
• Saves with multiple save files
  • Whatever progress is made should be available to be saved, and players should be able to start new games (without necessarily deleting old ones)
• AI-controlled things
  • Unlike May 18ths game (named "TableFlip?", for those interested), I would like this world should be more dynamic and interactive.
  • Simple examples include moving platforms and doors that open when you approach, but there should also be more robust things (possibly even other characters, also trying to navigate)
• Player can open game in a popup instead of playing in-page
  • The layout of the page is kind of immersion breaking/distracting for playing in the browser. Players should be able to choose to open in a new popup, which only shows the game.
• Cutscenes/Story
  • There should be a story, which reflects the exit choices (and creates meaning for those choices)

Reflections

Although released, and on time, I am not as pleased with this game as I was with my previous game. I had a great deal of difficulty getting the core mechanics to work correctly, and ultimately had to sacrifice what I wanted for something in the realm of possibility (given timeframe, motivation, etc). That sacrifice is a reminder regarding why I am making bi-weekly games: firstly, I need to become more familiar with game-specific programming approaches, and secondly, there are lessons that can only be learned through experience, which I still need to learn.

This project was a reminder of one such lesson: it is important to let the game be itself, rather than force it to be something else. While the original game design was probably a pretty cool game, it is not the game I ended up with. The game I ended up with, however, is playable, (imo) fun, and, most importantly, real. Perhaps if I let the game be itself from the moment it started pushing back, I could have focused more on visuals and animations (the lack of animations artificially increases the barrier of entry, which is undesirable).