Hey guys, wanted to make a quick post on the game design process with a specific example - our good friend Goblin Catch. Also, playtesting OP.
First, you might want to check out the current version here (currently in version 2.5).
Version 1.0, as I discussed in an earlier post, was heavily effected by randomization. Players would simply hit 'reset' until the first goblin that appeared was a purple, and then hope the next two goblins to appear were also purple - that was the optimal strategy, and, when lady luck was smiling upon them, it would yield a fast time. With v2.0 came the advent of the high score board, and now the competition grew even more fierce! Which was a good thing, actually; but with the gate into the high score board simply being randomization (and how much time you put in so you could see the ideal random cases), things were a little frustrating.
One day, I showed Goblin Catch to a couple people. After playing the game, they saw the high score board - and were immediately discouraged. Obtaining a spot on the leaderboard seemed out of reach, or more likely (as I believe they implicitly felt), out of their control. Getting a high score was only feasible if you spent hours on the game hoping for 3 purples in a row all within close proximity to each other.
Seeing some of my players a tad disgruntled, I wanted to change the gameplay a bit. Thus, I implemented 2 changes: 1. Changing the value of the purple goblin to 2 instead of 5, and 2. Decreasing the probability of the rare goblin showing up form 1/5 to 1/6.
The goal of these changes were to shift game away from its reliance on randomization and more towards twitch-skill reaction time (quickly moving the hero character towards the newly spawned goblins). After another day of testing, the high score board has been filled again with extremely fast times - I'm thinking that once again the probability of a rare goblin appearing must be lowered.
So what's the whole point of this post? I suppose it'd have to be the importance of getting people to playtest the game and give their feedback. I had originally thought that Goblin Catch was a completed project. But showing the game to other people allowed me to see the (numerous, *cough*) flaws in the game; without opening the game up for people to play, experiment with, and give comments on, Goblin Catch would've remained an unfun game (games with an element of luck can be fun, but too much reliance on the mechanic leads to frustration >___>).
Anyway, iteration on the game will continue (based on player feedback!). Next post should be the regularly scheduled League post I mentioned. Also, feel free to comment on this blog post with any feedback on Goblin Catch, I'll certainly take a look.
That's all for now - Peace,
Kannan
First, you might want to check out the current version here (currently in version 2.5).
Version 1.0, as I discussed in an earlier post, was heavily effected by randomization. Players would simply hit 'reset' until the first goblin that appeared was a purple, and then hope the next two goblins to appear were also purple - that was the optimal strategy, and, when lady luck was smiling upon them, it would yield a fast time. With v2.0 came the advent of the high score board, and now the competition grew even more fierce! Which was a good thing, actually; but with the gate into the high score board simply being randomization (and how much time you put in so you could see the ideal random cases), things were a little frustrating.
One day, I showed Goblin Catch to a couple people. After playing the game, they saw the high score board - and were immediately discouraged. Obtaining a spot on the leaderboard seemed out of reach, or more likely (as I believe they implicitly felt), out of their control. Getting a high score was only feasible if you spent hours on the game hoping for 3 purples in a row all within close proximity to each other.
Seeing some of my players a tad disgruntled, I wanted to change the gameplay a bit. Thus, I implemented 2 changes: 1. Changing the value of the purple goblin to 2 instead of 5, and 2. Decreasing the probability of the rare goblin showing up form 1/5 to 1/6.
The goal of these changes were to shift game away from its reliance on randomization and more towards twitch-skill reaction time (quickly moving the hero character towards the newly spawned goblins). After another day of testing, the high score board has been filled again with extremely fast times - I'm thinking that once again the probability of a rare goblin appearing must be lowered.
So what's the whole point of this post? I suppose it'd have to be the importance of getting people to playtest the game and give their feedback. I had originally thought that Goblin Catch was a completed project. But showing the game to other people allowed me to see the (numerous, *cough*) flaws in the game; without opening the game up for people to play, experiment with, and give comments on, Goblin Catch would've remained an unfun game (games with an element of luck can be fun, but too much reliance on the mechanic leads to frustration >___>).
Anyway, iteration on the game will continue (based on player feedback!). Next post should be the regularly scheduled League post I mentioned. Also, feel free to comment on this blog post with any feedback on Goblin Catch, I'll certainly take a look.
That's all for now - Peace,
Kannan
