Hi Everyone, our take on the theme was an action/arcade game based on a randomly generated grid that was filled with colors and mines. The player could select one color to reveal at a time, thus showing the safe cells. This game came out much harder than we expected since there was little skilled involved. We ended up creating special abilities to balance it out: such as armor, reveal, jump, etc. Also, we tied each ability/color to a positive character traits: courage, perseverance, resilience, and forgiveness. Here’s a run down of the good and the bad:
What went right:
- Polish. The game had logo, sound, artwork, and there were no bugs.
- Although difficult, the game was generally fun.
- The visual design was minimalistic, colorful, and most importantly, something we produced within our skill and time limitations.
- We experimented with a new creative process and the result was not too shabby. We plan to keep refining our approach.
- Easily published for Web, Windows, and OSX using Unity. We wanted the game available to as many people as possible.
What went wrong:
- The game was really challenging because we didn’t have enough gameplay elements to empower the player. We could have identified this sooner and planned accordingly.
- It was more based on luck than skill. It didn’t feel like you can improve skill and overcome the challenge.
- We aimed for 5 minute game session, it averaged 30-45 seconds.
- The introduction story was conceptualized after the core mechanics. It was trying to provide purpose via a “spiritual elements” concept, which was too abstract for such a literal game.
- There was no tutorial or instructions. We just tossed the player into deep waters without teaching them how to swim.
Even though our creation is essentially a “glorified minesweeper variant’, we are very happy with the game. We are continuing to work on it and making it the best it can be.
