TOO MANY HOOKS.

A mini game that was easy to play and not much of a time commitment.

Our prototype goals were to have a working build that showed all the basic features and gameplay that we wanted to be included and improve on those things. We didn’t want to add too many mechanics or features and instead wanted the prototype to be optimized and not feel clunky.

Power-ups and Platforms

We added power-ups and different platform types to spice up gameplay and add friction to the players.These were important because it retained players’ attention and provided emergent gameplay.

Different Rope Types

We tried to add different rope types in addition to power-ups so the players could customize their character even further. This, however, didn’t work as well because it was too similar to powerups and hard to balance. In the end, we decided to take it out of the prototype. Having power-ups was enough.

Character “Selection”

Supporting multiple players was important to make the game more engaging and competitive. A character selection feature was added so players knew what they were playing as and got a feel for the environment (the player can choose their colour).

Score System

We added a score system to encourage the player to survive as long as possible and to let the player know their progress in the game. It retains the player in single player mode.

Static Map Mode

A static map allows players to practice or compete in a fighter style “brawl”. It provided a change in gameplay and environment but with the same mechanics. At first, it was meant to be a exploration map but it did not make sense for our type of competitive game as well as platform generation being a problem to provide procedural generation. In the end we thought that a brawling map would fit better with the mechanics of the game.

Single Player Mode

We created a single player mode of the endless map because some players may prefer to play alone. It worked the same as the multiplayer version but with an addition of the score system. The single player map works the same as multiplayer.

Character Selection

This feature took longer than expected and we had to cut features we planned such as costumes, hats, etc.. Initially, we planned to have a separate screen (scene) for it but that would require data to persist between scene changes and we didn't want to use playerprefs. Having so many menu screens would also be cluttering so instead, we opted to implement simple choices (colours) for the players to choose from in the level before starting the game.

Platform Playtesting

We created different types of platforms to test how players would react and which ones they would like. The main challenge is that there are still a lot of possibilities and ideas that haven't been explored that could affect and alter gameplay. Currently we are stuck with basic platform types (normal, less friction, bounce, etc.).

Platform Spawns & Interactions

Because of the fast paced nature of the game, some players could not aim and hit platforms consistently. We had to adjust the length and thickness of the platforms as well as how close they spawned to each other in order to find a point where players could easily be able to grapple onto a platform but not make it impossible to fall to their death. Adding some gravity and mass to the player so the character felt heavier (and wouldn't fly off at the speed of light if they spun around enough) also fixed the issue of players losing control or falling too fast. This also prevented players from being able to stop or change direction instantly in the middle of a high speed spin.

Some tasks that remain are the implementation of art and just fixing the visuals of the game. Fixing up the UI to be more coherent is also another task. It works as it is but it could be improved. An additional goal is also to merge the single and multiplayer maps. We would need to make it recognize the amount of players in a game (controllers) and pull up a score if it is only one player. This would be cleaner than having a separate scene for just single player as the map is essentially the same.

An unknown we have not tested at all is if there are more than two players in the game. It would potentially be too crowded but a simple solution would be to limit the player count if it was an issue. We also don’t know if the static map is as engaging and worth developing as the endless mode. The static map is too large currently and it is hard to keep track of your own character on such a large screen if there were to be more players. It may also be difficult to interact with others (cut their ropes) in such an environment.

These unknowns pose low risk to the project however, because they could easily be limited or removed. The base game itself just needs more polishing.

Our prototype represented our final game pretty well and our mechanics were not overly complicated as we wanted to make an arcade-style game where players could pick up easily and play without previous experience. We worked on optimizing and polishing a lot more than expected. We have a pretty good representation of all the mechanics and features that our final game would have and it was engaging to play. It is interesting because the main mechanic was so simple but we could add a lot of elements like power-ups and platforms to enhance the experience.