by EvanBlack » Sat Oct 08, 2011 6:43 pm
No, yeah, I love the idea! XD
I am just looking at it from a consumer/average person perspective. The thing is you need to know is that people are stupid and need things practically done for them when it comes to technology. And as technology advances to become more automated, more and more people who are unwilling to read directions or even follow them properly will be the ones paying for your ideas.
Most of the time, the EASIER (more automated) something is the more the popular it becomes. Thats why I say have a difficultly setting that adjusts your variables for these people. You have to realize also, when making a game, its not a game for you, its a game for them.
I didn't mean to sound critical, its just facts. I was trying to stress that I love the idea.. but I am not average Joe Sizlak off the street. Hell... I don't even own an Iphone. People love the Iphone because of marketing. They heard about it being expensive(not good unless it comes in a physical medium) and that anyone who is anybody has an Iphone so they had to get one too. Same thing with games, I mean look at World of Warcraft. This game is for the average person. Its incredibly Automated and allows for easy integration from knowing nothing about games to becoming an expert in weeks.
So when your designing your game, you need to keep in mind that people will talk about it critically if they can't beat the first level on their first try. Even if they don't know anything about the game. If they lose 5-6 times because they didn't get the recycle beam power, or accidently used it all up because they liked looking at the pretty circle thing, they will get bored fast and hate the game. Then they will tell their friends NOT to buy the game because its too hard.
But don't get me wrong. If they can finish the game without dying at all, or only dying twice, then they will hate the game for being too easy.
So you have to find balance and really test you game. Honestly, you could put an unlimited recycle power for until the first ball target is achieved and then give some stupid excuse why its limited now, but you MUST display the remaining ammo on screen. No one is going to know how many shots they have so they will try not to use them ever, and will cause them to get frustrated and hate the game.
You just have to be a little creative about handling the situation. Make sure that the game is for the average person, but also as the game advances the challenge gets harder. There is nothing wrong with making your first challenge un-loseable and your last challenge unwinnable. Example is punch-out for the NES. Very popular title for the almost un-winnable challenge at the end.
Trust me, I am not only a game designer, but I am a computer tech. People come in with problems all the time because they can't follow simple directions like "Next->Next->Next->OK->Finish". The average person will be the one buying your game, the average gamer will be the one trying before buying, then both will give Word of Mouth to their friends about how awesome your game is. How easy it was to pick up (because of automation), and how hard it was to put down.(because of challenge)
Also, anything that hurts your player should stand out from the rest of the game. Unless intentionally hidden, but then these items should be few and far between and easily avoidable for the first half of your game)
Your game has great potential in becoming VERY popular. You just have to be careful about handling challenge in your game. Try to limit your challenge rating for the first half of the game, the make dramatic increases for the last half. But for each challenge the reward must be exponential to the challenge. (Reward^challengerating). If the only thing someone gets when they finish an extremely hard challenge is a "You Did It!" screen. They will tell their friends not to play because the reward isn't worth the challenge. But if they got something worth getting, they will all play to the end to get the reward.
Example of a last level reward:
Challenge ratings = (0-10) 0-Almost unloseable , 10-Almost unwinnable
Last Level:
Challenge rating: 10
Reward: Promo-code 20% off next game purchase, 1 time use.
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