Dash
I have this system that grays out everything behind the surface you're currently attached to. I do this because you can't shoot backward through the surface; it doesn't make physical sense. However, a significant number of players (probably 50%) get confused when they aim at the wall they're currently attached to, and they can't shoot there.
So I added a "dash" move. When you aim at the attached surface, the reticle changes to a chevron, indicating that you will dash a short distance. This gif demonstrates:
It still takes some getting used to, but at least it avoids the frustration of pressing a button and seeing nothing happen.
The only problem is, I'm not sure what to do with the spider-bot's legs during the dash. Right now they just sort of fold up a bit. No one has questioned it so far, so for now I'll just leave it as-is.
Danger indicator
Players often charge into battle with only 1 hit point, not realizing that they were in danger of losing the entire game in a single hit. Losing a match should not be an unpleasant surprise.
Also, 3 total hit points is a bit low. I wanted 3 because there are 3 of everything in this game, but 4 is more ideal.
I solved these issues by increasing the player health to 4 hit points and hiding the first hit point in the UI. So you have a base health of 1 hit point, but you don't see it in the UI. At the start of each match, you'll see a flashing red empty health indicator, ensuring that the first thing you'll do is look for health.
If you get down to 1 base hit point, you'll also see a flashing danger indicator when an enemy is in range. You can see this at the end of this gif, along with a few other new features. Players now leave trails of tracer particles, making them easier to follow. You can also see what happens when you damage a player and bounce off them; it's much less jarring and disorienting.
Splitscreen menu
The menu for setting up a splitscreen match used to be pretty bad. Each player had their own screen. You would press A to join and switch teams. You had to constantly glance over to the other screens to see which team everyone was on. I got this setup from Call of Duty, but it doesn't really make sense for local multiplayer.
There's a standard solution to this problem. Not sure why it took me this long to switch to it.
Not pretty, but much more functional.
Summer Expo
On Thusrday I got to show the game at Playcrafting NYC's Summer Expo. There were apparently 110 games, over 800 people, and most importantly, free pizza.
It was tough to draw people with only a laptop and some business cards, but a decent number played and really enjoyed the game. However it really hit me that this game's appeal is much more narrow than my last game. A typical conversation went like this:
Person: "This looks cool, what is it?"
Me: "A 3D shooter. Want to play?"
Person: *turns away* "Look, a mobile game!"
"Core" gamers (sigh) absolutely loved the game. Not sure how to feel about it. I would love to make highly accessible games that anyone can play. I would especially like to make games that appeal to both men and women, because doing that almost always results in a better game.
I don't have enough skill for that yet. So for now I'll rationalize by pointing out that the genre of indie 3D shooters is in pretty bad shape right now. The only quality, innovative titles I can think of at the moment are by David Pittman and Terri Vellmann. Plus, there's the tired old saying: "make the game you want to play".
Whatever it takes to make you feel okay about yourself, right?
Anyway, the other takeaway from this expo is something I've been thinking about for a while. Namely, it's nearly impossible to explain the game to people. Being able to explain your game in a sentence is super important. I've been working on it since day one, and I still can't do it, because it's basically two games mashed into one.
So I'm removing one of the two games. No more parkour.
I realized that the parkour mechanics have nothing to do with the rest of the game. In fact, it's so disconnected that I can pretty cleanly remove it without changing much. The important part is telling the story, and I can do that via other means.
The plan is to go back to the roots of the original "grepr" prototype, which had a nifty terminal emulator between levels, where the (very miminal) story unfolded. I won't be going full terminal this time (it needs to be gamepad accessible). It should be fun to come up with a neat seventies-ish UI though.