Bits of Progress

Since my last update we've tested and discussed the game flow of Sunbots, and now we've found a solution to the pacing issues I've talked about in my previous posts. We're downplaying the economic mechanics of "farming" energy and filling up the sun and switched to a more straightforward platforming goal of collecting a few "sun bits" in the level. Each bit collected by the player will make the sun(s) in the level grow larger, which will change the level layout by moving around other planets and unlocking them for the player to interact with. Though the player can platform freely, they cannot use their energy to charge up the locked planets until the connected sun bits are collected. Charging up planets increases their gravity, which allows the player different routes through the level, as well as activates some secondary features like an orbit. The new design is a bit clearer, which should help hitting our target accessibility without forcing us to tone down any of the gravity mechanics. These have tested the best out of our current build, and I feel like there's a lot of depth for us to explore in them. Having other complicated mechanics on top of that would force us to dilute the experience or risk becoming an inaccessible mess, and I feel like we'd be better served by doing really well at one strong gameplay system than spreading ourselves out on an overambitious high concept.

This week we've begun testing iterations of levels with this new mechanic. I've personally been working on some levels that use orbiting planets to separate stages of gameplay. My goal has been to create flexible levels with multiple avenues of completion, to let the player progress in the manner most comfortable to them while emphasizing the exploration and discovery that previous testers have enjoyed. I feel like our space theme will mesh very well with a slower paced game, which will in turn let players learn and experiment with the mechanics at their own pace. Our gravity implementation is still pretty abstract and has little player feedback, so hopefully the looser focus won't frustrate players while we get more of these UI upgrades in place. We have testing scheduled on most available days for the foreseeable future, and all the feedback we can get at this stage will greatly aid us in finding the most engaging way to structure Sunbots.

Win Cons

Lately I've been focusing on our core gameplay flow, with the focus on increasing engagement between the player and the mechanics. A big roadblock we've been dealing with has been the victory condition and how the player gets there. Currently, the player finishes a level by "filling up" the sun with energy, which the player harvests from planets that they can charge up in the same fashion. The issue has been that there is no inherent challenges in this gameplay. The player is in full control of the means of production of energy, and the only stresses on their energy reserve are the enemies, which steal away unattended energy, and the player's own movement through the level. This has resulted in pretty static strategies, where the player charges up a few planets close to each other and simply waits until they build up enough energy to charge the sun and win. We've played with some ways to force the player to move around more and explore the level, but these have largely felt artificial and fairly ineffective at combating the real problem. The optimal way to play the game is to barely play it at all, and I feel like that's a big problem. We want to incentivize the players to engage with our mechanics and our content, and to make that feel natural rather than a series of roadblocks before they can reach the finish line.

We are currently testing a "Metroidvania" style level, involving a larger layout of planets than we've had before as well as several suns that must each be charged up. When each sun is given enough energy the planets around it realign, which opens up new routes for the player. The feeling of exploration and flying around the solar system has interested a lot of our testers, which this new design focuses on. It doesn't solve all the problems we have with our golden path, but it's a step forward that we will be able to iterate on further as we get some more testing done.

Moving Through Space

My goal for this first chunk of the semester has been designing new mechanics to test and iterate on for Sunbots, primarily to improve the gameplay depth and add some longer term appeal to the game. As a platforming game the player's main engagement with the game is how they move around and get past obstacles, so I tried to develop some new mechanics along this line. The player is somewhat bound to the paths of the planets as they rotate around the star at the center of each level, which makes level design a little difficult. What if the player was able to recontextualize the game space to further their goal? The system I built for this is a pair of planetary "upgrades" that the player can lay down on a planet to give it a special quality. One upgrade draws all the energy from other nearby planets to its surface, and the other upgrade repels the enemies that seek out energy and devour it. The upgrades are mutually exclusive so the player has to plan around how they will build up the planets to make their energy economy as efficient as possible. The goal is to allow the player to maximize their time spent gathering energy by concentrating the energy at a few points rather than distributed across the whole map. The enemy repel planets serve as guards for the economy planets so the player can focus their attention on a single area at a time without losing their investment elsewhere. 

This upgrade system adds a strategy element that we're experimenting with, but we're not sure how well it will mesh with our goals for the game experience. We want Sunbots to be a somewhat casual, low stress game, and if the strategy elements get too intense then that could throw off the appeal, even if it doesn't change the difficulty. We're beginning our testing cycle this weekend and with any luck we'll get some good feedback on which systems are improving the experience and which feel superfluous or too complicated. 

Among the Sunbots

My last semester of game production at Champlain has begun, and in the shuffle at the end of last semester I landed on Team Supergeneric and their project "Sunbots". I'm real excited to get to work on this team and they've already got a great core for us to expand on. As it stands, Sunbots is a cute, space-themed platformer with a pretty unique physical space. The player character jumps around a solar system from planet to planet, collecting "energy" that they can throw around as a sort of jet propulsion while not in contact with a planet. The goal is to collect enough to recharge the star at the center of the system. The game is pretty solid right now, but it is very linear. Our team's goal for the gameplay is to create enough depth for longer term player engagement, but we don't want to overcomplicate it and potentially exclude more casual players. My job for these first couple of weeks before greenlight, where our design will largely have to be locked in, is to find this balance of depth and accessibility. 

On my first experience with Sunbots I was most excited by the potential in their energy system. Right now you can toss your energy into planets, which covers the normally barren balls of rock with life. Additional energy is constantly generated by these living planets, which the player can return to later and "harvest". Right now the player's goal is very clear and a little too simplistic. The player jumps between planets, collects energy, and "seeds" the energy into a few planets to build up a larger quantity, which they toss into the star to finish the level. I feel like there's a lot of potential for interesting economic mechanics in the way the player collects and utilizes energy, kind of like a Harvest Moon in space. My initial exploration and testing is going to be along these lines, and I'm excited to see where it will go.