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CFHM3 years ago

Well, in general, I try to find the thing that makes a game fun, and really focus on that for the jam. For example, in my game, through playtesting, I tried to make sure that the player could buy at least one upgrade after every run. I don't think I quite hit the mark, but I tried to highlight what I thought would be the most fun 'moment' in the game and give it to the player as quickly and as frequently as possible.

To that note: in your game, having a giant swarm devour stuff is just fun to watch. In that respect, it shares a lot with a demonstration as well as a game. So, could you pull any ideas from watching spectacles? What if there were a handful of bigger trees and when you devoured them, they fell over? Or once your swarm is big enough, certain objects change to yellow to be devourable. 

All that being said - don't feel obligated to put more work into your jam game. They're a blast to make and perfect for experimenting and learning. If you got what you need out of this game, then it's a huge success. :)

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PelicanPolice3 years ago(+1)

You are so right about the fun! It’s true that the second I’m bored when playing a jam game I move right onto the next one, so it’s very important to keep the audience captive!

When you say it’s fun to watch, do you mean it’s only fun to watch and not fun to play? 

Falling trees is a fantastic idea, not quite sure how I’d animate the shadows but perhaps it’s just a matter of stretching them down as it fell! 

Your point about making a spectacle is very interesting, I wonder how much adding more detail like leaves flying away or branches falling would enhance the experience.

I also love the idea of things becoming edible once the swarm is big enough, like the farm buildings too. 

Thank you so much for such in-depth feedback! It really helps me. Is there anything else?

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CFHM3 years ago
When you say it’s fun to watch, do you mean it’s only fun to watch and not fun to play?

No! No, not at all. I mean that what's happening on screen is as interesting to spectate as it is to participate in. For example, the reason I picked your game was because the gif you had selected of the swarm attacking the field. That just looked cool and I had to try it. 

Thinking about it more, this is closest to a simulation game. The player gives inputs to a system, then the system does the thing and the player gets to watch that unfold. The player just guides the swarm as opposed to having direct control or having a button assigned to 'eat'. Does that make sense? So if you wanted to develop this further, you could look to other simulation games for inspiration. Could you introduce random events like SimCity? Upgrades to move, consume speed, or max swarm size like an incremental/idle game? Stuff like that. As a game dev, nothing should be truly off-limits. Everything has been done, so always be thinking of how you can borrow and modify existing stuff that works well!

Your point about making a spectacle is very interesting, I wonder how much adding more detail like leaves flying away or branches falling would enhance the experience.

I think this is the right line of thinking, but you also need to be wary of adding small effects like leaves. Any small debris added to your game is going to muddy with the swarm of locusts. You could perhaps do yellow flecks that the swarm then eats, but anything else that comes close to being "little bits moving on screen" will only draw attention away from the swarm. 

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PelicanPolice3 years ago (1 edit)

That’s really useful feedback to know that the gif is working! It’s also good to know it is both fun to watch and play, that makes for good video content and virality!

I agree completely that the controls should be kept as simple as possible, so you can just mindlessly play without needing to micromanage.

There was a suggestion to be able to split the swarm which is treading the micromanaging line but I think if careful, it could work quite well. What do you think?

Upgrades are a fantastic idea, it never even crossed my mind! I never even considered a maximum swarm size either, I was stuck for ideas on how I could stop the game getting too laggy when you have more and more locusts.

I will look into idle games to see if they have anything that could be useful mechanically in here too, that’s a great shout.

I agree completely that care must be taken to prevent creating a mush. It would be tempting to put a brown stalk on each leaf to add contrast but now that you mention it, amongst the swarm of brown locusts I think you’re right, it would be too much.

Also, would you be interested in testing future versions / projects?

Again, thank you so much for taking the time to write such detailed feedback, it’s given me a lot to think about!

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