Chest Quest Update – December Part 1

Hey everyone,

Sorry it’s been a while since my last post. I have been busy with work and really wanted to show you guys something rather than deconstructing others work. I am going to show what I have learn’t from my previous posts and studies, of games that I have been playing.

So this week I am going to be talking about the changes I have made to my personal game “Chest Quest”. Some changes I decided to make after doing my blogs and other changes came about after player’s feedback.

Main Menu:

Some of you may have already seen the changes I made to my main menu from my previous post but for those who haven’t. I had been looking at a lot of mobile games menus and most felt lifeless. They may have the camera moving over the environment like Ocean Horn, but it still felt as if the player has little impact on the world or just seemed to set a poor pace.

So after playing Dragon Age: Inquisition where it just had such a WOW moment. I decided to find and create one for Chest Quest. Video below for my results:

As you can see it has a cool moment of making the player realise that this was not a static camera but angry beast whose focus is that of the treasure. It also makes the player wonder what that was. Is it a friend or foe?

It instantly brings life to the game from the first breath. With the growl I am thinking of using that as an Indicator of the difficulty level.

As it is a runner/platformer I am thinking of opening up all the levels to the player so they can jump right in, (this is just a thought still, and yet to be determined). The first level will have just a faint growl but the final level if selected from the menu will be a ferocious roar, indicating to the player that this is going to be a challenge.

Camera:

I have been messing around with the camera a bit more. One of the feedback I received from testers was that I rotate the camera up slightly so the player can worry about the dangers above them. This was really interesting, yet I decided not to make the change as there will be no danger directly above them. So by me reducing the sight of the above area, I hope it calms the player and does not make them worry about what is above them.

When the dragon enters the game the camera changes. One of the feedback I got from my friend was that instead of looking further down on the player it switch to looking up at the dragon. Shifting the power scale more and giving the player a clearer view of the dragon. I really like this and hope you guys do as well.

Dragon Camera

Signs + Feedback

The camera also helps show the warning signs better to the player that the dragon is about to shoot fireballs. Signs for this are, smoke coming out of the side of the dragons mouth, a growl then orange lights will light up around the dragon (inspired by Smalg from The Hobbit as it was something simple yet effective).

DragonSigns

In aiding on signs and feedback for when the player has taken damage I have added a camera shake when the player is hit. This way it is clear to the player that something has happened to them. In addition to this, there is a heart which falls from the player as well as a grunting noise.

HearSign

I still believe that there other things I need to do to make it clearer to the player that they have taken damage but it is a strong start.

RLD + Pacing:

After watching multiple players make their way through the game, I noticed that the learning curve was extremely steep. Although a few got through some of the levels with ease others really struggled.

I noticed that although players like the challenge, I did not seem to provide enough breathing room for players.

To help me on improve on my learning/difficulty curve I did a quick RLD chart, (It still needs to be worked upon but is a helpful starting point).

RLDMechanicChart

RLDLvlChart

Conclusion:

I have more changes which I will be talking about next week, for now I just wanted to give something short and sweet. Hopefully you like these changes and agree that they are for the better.

If you have any feedback please tweet me @maxpears or email me at maxpears010@gmail.com

Thank you everyone and let’s continue.