devlog – The Bosstopus

Problems, Prototypes & Doubts

I haven’t posted a lot of art or finished screens or even proper gameplay yet and there’s a reason. I’m still figuring out all the parts and components of the game and there is absolutely no reason why I should art up things I’ll end up not using.

While building some mechanics, I found that they didn’t fit perfectly with the rest and had to either redesign, cut or make concession about the integrity of these problematic features. It’s a tough thing to do, when you really like 2 ideas but they are contradictory. Like choosing which one of your twin will die. Ok…maybe not that rough.

This is especially troublesome when you’re on a time limit. Struggling for too long on something that will get cut can be perceived as loss of time and affect morale. But really, it’s part of the process. Even when working on big titles, we end up removing features that are complete or almost complete near the end of the production because they can be hurtful to the final product.

With redesign though comes uncertainty and doubt that always seems to show up at the worst moment. This week I ended up cutting, reshuffling and prototyping a lot of different control schemes. I made very little noticeable progress even though a lot of work have been put in. The good news is that I’m close to having all the main components fit in a presentable way. Enough for a round 2 of play tests which should begin tonight!

Still rough around the edges but the core is there.

Dead by Daylight

I also want to mention that we finally announced Dead by Daylight the game I’m currently working on in my professional life :). It’s an asymmetric multiplayer game in which one crazed killer attempts to catch 4 survivors before they escape his nightmarish world.

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The game is a blast and I can’t wait to be able to show more. You can see more information at these location:

Thank you for reading and taking interest in my project! Don’t hesitate to reach me at any of the following for a chat:

Have fun!

-Dave

Hi everyone! Already 2 weeks out of 12 down! This week have seen great advancement in the project as my work got propelled by the voice of the legendary David Bowie.

CYst9TqUEAA40st — Current state of the Game. Still not pretty but more functional!

Prototypes & Tests

The goal of the week was to refine the games’ rules to find a pleasant balance between randomly mixing ingredient and attempting to create the perfect combination to maximise points. My goal was to get an easy progression in the recipes. I want players to have fun matching practically any ingredients together and get a final recipe out of it instead of forcing strict combinations. The game is primarily about discovery.

I tested a lot of different movement schemes and decided to go with my original plan of dragging tokens around with the mouse or touch screen. I spent a couple of hours polishing this mechanic so it is solid and fluid. It’s almost there. There is also an indicator now that shows when a combination of tokens creates something. This makes for a more fluid and easygoing game experience.

CYj7t-nWYAA8lqp.jpg-large — Blackboard items are almost all crossed out now.

I’ve also prototyped and tested the end conditions and pressure mechanics of the game. I’ve tried turn based, time based and error based. The best option for me at this moment for the score mode is time based. Nevertheless, I don’t want the player to feel too much rush, I want them to be relaxed and have enough time to experiment.

The mechanic is simple, as time goes by the Glutton gets hungrier. You need to make sure that enough food is given to him to lower his hunger or else you’re the one who gets eaten! The monster’s hunger is further satisfied when you give him what he wants. When you give him enough, you move to the next level.

A new Glutton

Talking about the Glutton, I’ve started sketching him on Friday. He was originally supposed to be just a head icon moving around the board. I’ve just recently decided to have a sprite of its full body at its “real” scale instead. Its hulking appearance will be very cool on the board compared to other tokens. Now I just need to figure out how to make it move around properly.

CYx6cE1W8AEPLmo — Sketching the Glutton (blue monster) standing and sitting.

NEXT WEEK

Next week is a big milestone as I will playtest the game with friends and colleagues to see where it needs refinements. If you are making a game yourself, know that planning and committing to do playtests is not only crucial to get feedback but is also a great way to motivate yourself. Working under a deadline do marvels!

For this playtest, I need to make sure there is enough recipes available in score mode for it to last more than 5 minutes. I also should make sure that 1 to 3 puzzle levels are available. I want to test both game modes. Talking about level design, I leave you with some sort of a spoiler 😉 The following are old level design I found this week. I’ll probably rebuild those levels in the game just for the kicks.

The following images show a bit of how I work. I always design on paper before doing anything in the engine. I find doing these analog designs a much easier task. Working with a pen, eraser and paper helps me think and focus.

See you next week. Until then, have fun!