It has literally taken years to overcome this design obstacle, but I think I've done it! If you have not read my previous post, you should! The tl;dr is I've tried a couple of different ways to let the player control two characters, but they did not meet my standards for fun. My latest attempt at Dual Character Control (DCC) appears to be successful. Simply put, the player controls Kidd and Fei just follows him. What kept me from implementing this before was the fear that the individuality of the characters would be lost if Fei's action were relegated to a single button. But putting them together did just the opposite! |
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Some of you might know that my Desktop Bomberkid game is homage to the first game I ever owned, "Pocket Bomberman" for the Game Boy; hence why my game includes "Desktop" in the title since it's for the PC! The first two worlds I created were all about teaching. Teaching the player what the controls and mechanics are and who's who in this game's universe. A huge challenge was/is teaching players how Bomberman-style bombs work (a topic that deserves an exclusive blog post). Playtesting showed that many struggled with bombs and, as such, the difficulty of the second world took a dive to ensure players would learn, feel good, and continue to play. Interestingly, though many playtesters died over and over against the boss, all of them did not want his difficulty adjusted. People like a (good) challenge where appropriate!
I state all this to say the first two worlds are "boring", but not in a bad way. They were all about learning. But anyone who breezed through the first two worlds was sad that the game was easy. The third world has a lot of weight on its shoulders: At this point all players should be good enough at the game that their focus is less on "which button is to jump" and more on "why do I want to keep playing this". By the power of deus ex machina, Kidd and Fei are reunited in the third world and team up.This is also where I simultaneously shoot myself in the foot and jump for joy (and in pain) because I introduce a new mechanic: Dual Character Control (DCC). In other words, now you control two people. Conception Mix one bored afternoon, a scarf, and an old game idea I've been kicking around and you'll have yourself the latest game I'm developing. My old game idea was a high-mobility 2D platformer with concealed weapons. The scarf provided me with the theme and motivation because hey, scarves are cool. The goal of the following components that make up this game is to create an intense, PvP experience with a lot of yomi that rewards reading your opponent, requires a moderate amount of technical mastery, and allows for a good deal of customization and play styles. With this mission statement in mind, here is my "Rock-Paper-Scissors (RPS) Fighter". |
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March 2016
AuthorI am Reginald Franklin, a graduate of RPI and practitioner of game design and 2D/3D art. Be sure to check out the rest of the site for my work, as well! Categories
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