Day 7 - My game has a name and its name is Obb

Cosmologicon on 2011/09/17 03:34 of Universe Factory 13

I've got about 20 hours left, and I need to use as many of them as possible. I'll take a break now to talk a little about the game, but then I'm going to work as hard as I can to reach the deadline.

I just barely have the game in a state where I can play it, and it's a far cry from being in a state where other people can play it. On the plus side, I thought of a good name for the game. Obb.



You anagram-lovers out there will be happy to know that Obb is an anagram of Bob.

So, some thoughts about the gameplay. I wanted to challenge myself this Pyweek, and for this game I decided to eliminate all written instructions. When you're not told the rules of the game, figuring out the rules itself becomes part of the gameplay. I definitely like this aspect of games, because it feels like you're exploring. Some people hate it, though.

It's also slightly complicated by the fact that Obb already has two layers to it - it's a tile placement puzzle game and a real-time strategy game. So by adding the third layer of figuring out the rules, I'm really risking that I'll frustrate some people. It's hard for me to convince myself to do this, but I wanted to take risks. I may learn my lesson and never try this again. :)

Also, there's currently no way to die and no way to win. The gameplay reacts to your ambition, so if you scale it back, there's no point at which you're eliminated from the game. I'm thinking of keeping it this way. I like this in terms of the story it tells (and since my games are usually heavy in dialogue, it's driving me crazy that I get to write only three letters). Obb doesn't really have goals - Obb is just Obb.

So I like it for aesthetic reasons, but I'm not so sure I like it in terms of gameplay. I like games to have goals and a sense of progression, and this is a little too open-ended for my taste. I'll see what I can think of as I'm playtesting. Hopefully I can find a happy medium.

All right, back to the task at hand. See you on the other side!

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Comments

Cosmologicon on 2011/09/17 08:02:

Gaaaah, I can't do it! It's just too hard to communicate these mechanics with symbols! How do you draw a symbol that says "Structures auto-heal by default, but if you click on this icon you can toggle that behavior"??? I give up. In-game instructions are going in. :(

I guess I'll have to settle for a chatty mutant. :)

Hugoagogo on 2011/09/17 08:13:

Mabey a plus symbol that is either greyed out or green?

Python Jedi on 2011/09/17 13:39:

or a health pack... Good luck, and I like the idea, i happen to like sandbox games. (going to blow off some steam in minecraft soon), so this will be great