Devlog for Quofel 1.1, submitted to Improve My Game Jam # 9

I developed Quofel originally for the ScoreSpace x 8 Bit for Infinity ~ Arcade Controls Jam.

The topic was "swarms" and the game had to have a high score system. It was my first time working with the Gdevelop engine and my second gamejam overall.

Initially I wanted to create an endless physics-based platformer with moving platforms and unusual controls. You could slowly move in the air in 8 directions or faster on the ground where you could also jump, similar to the game Joust. The platforms behaved like a swarm and moved randomly and unpredictably. But the more I worked on this concept the less fun it became! Moving platforms are already frustrating but adding shaky physics and random movements is just awful! On Sunday I decided to start all over again.

I started with 8-directional movement, swarming sprites and an endless level. I experimented with movement without graphics or sound. It was really difficult for me to deal technically and conceptually with the creation of a high score game. In my previous game, Duende , there was no winning or losing and only very minimal gameplay. I thought that graphics and atmosphere were already my strengths, so if I could make a prototype without all of that, but with fun gameplay first, the end result could be great!

I like mysterious and obscure games. Highscore games are based on fixed simple rules that just need to be exectued. You have to turn more into a machine yourself. In Duende I wanted to do the opposite, the player questioning himself and becoming more human. Silence and moments of nothingness create introspection. Highscore games expect constant concentration, you continuously have to press buttons, more and more intensely. Most of the time they have a strong loop and are somehow addictive. It's interesting and terrifying how easy it is to make a addicting game with very little effort! What I also liked about Duende was that you couldn't win or lose. It wasn't about playing the game "properly" or efficiently.

So for the concept of my highscore game to be appealing to myself, it had to be obscure. The player shouldn't really be able understand it, at least for a while. There should be no opponents that you could easily defeat and get points for. In the final game, the Quofels either give or subtract points depending on their or your conditions.

What also slightly annoys me about highscore games is that the highscore is constantly on the screen. It distracts you from the game, from just being in the moment. You constantly want to check the highscore. I thought the high score could disappear and reappear at some point so I had the idea that the highscore just floats around just like the other Quofel.

I had the movement and the playing field but still no game. I didn't just want to make the other Quofels into opponents and didn't know what rules to add so I just added sprites and sounds. Then I made the Quofel to change their size with every collision: that's how I came up with the rules, just by playing. There were six different sprites with six different sounds that were played in random pitches and speeds.

If you haven't yet played it you can try it yourself before you continue reading.

OLD VERSION

In the ScoreSpace x 8 Bit for Infinity ~ Arcade Controls Jam, Quofel received below-average ratings in every aspect except theme. In 4 of 6 categories it was 29th out of 43 and in fun / design even 35th place! I think some kind of tutorial was definitely missing and more visual or auditive feedback for the player. Somehow you had to at least understand a little bit what you did right or wrong. I observed that people who understood the rules really enjoyed it. It still seemed to have a different effect than an ordinary high score game.

Duende was completely finished for me after the jam was over but with Quofel, I wanted to improve everything, so this jam came in handy!

During the last two weeks, I did not continue working on Quofel. However I made a long list of possible improvements, addings a few points each day.

what I set out to do:

Gameplay

• alternate/ better losing / winning conditions. Right now you lose when you make 5 mistakes = touching big sprites when you're small or touching small sprites when you're big
• boids movement
• combo system

  Accessibility

• more visual feedback about what's going on (hitting something /getting hit)
• tutorial descriptions, introductions
• increase visibility of sprites
• put on headphones start screen / fullscreen recommended

  Visual

• quofels more alive, multiple animations for everyone
• additional sprites, backgrounds and environment elements (atmosphere, transparent moving background)
• dirt on screen effect
• increase size of screen circle slightly (more transparent) – size changing
• particles (in direction of player hitting)
• screen color change
• moving noise background
• change camera size when big
• hit right – small screenshake / hit wrong – big screenshake
• particles / different animation for collision
• drop shadow for sprites
• sprite bounce (change size a little bit)
• feedback – staying big / small for long amounts of time, switching fast

  Environment

• very small points, big scale clouds

Content

• additional shapes (6 currently, +10 (with sounds))
• additional sounds
• different points for catching different sprites
• different game modes (playing for low score, not hitting anything)
• legendary Quofels
• change sprite (player) to sprite hit
• different levels

  Mechanics

• seamless scene transition
• hitting highscore turns it bigger/smaller as well
• amount of Quofels not increasing linear
• powerups -> size change (become really huge)
• sprites interacting with each other
• multiple different tracked moving scores (right hits, wrong hits, hits overall, time (not updating per second), all time highscore
• make core decisions more interesting (hitting/evading/switching forms)

Sound

• low sounds when near

          Website

• cover image
• gif, screenshot

what i accomplished:

First day (5:19:48h):

• increased size of map
• particles for collision
• drop shadows, bloom, outline, color correction
• new mechanic: screen turns dark, hit glow-in-the-dark Quofel
• new sounds
• new spawning system
• animated subtle background sprites: waves and ghost lights
• performance now a big issue ...!

Second day (5:26:21h)

• background sprite: noodles
• explosion particles
• tried different/additional score system
• spent the majority of the time debugging for better performance. After trying some smaller stuff I tried to load all sounds on start instead of during the game, strangely enoguh it made only a very small difference. Then I tried to check the collision only every 0.1sec instead of every frame. It made no difference and introduced some new problems. Finally I got rid on the collision completely and based the events just on distance. Because all sprites are orbs, it works exactly the same and now the game runs really smoothly again! Any experienced developer will probably shake their head!
• new particles: blood cloud and big electricity
• new background moving shadow: "whale"
• performance somehow still terrible despite reworking the entire code ... don't know how to proceed without removing most of the stuff i just added.

Third day (6:01:09h):

• I'm planning to make a polished, working framework and split the game content up into scenes in a random order
• improved performance and spawns
• added 4 new Quofel sprites that appear only in dark mode
• added player model Quofel sprite as hostile spawn and new ending rules
• many new sounds
• drew tutorial images and cover image
• new font for ending screen
• translated the devlog, worked on the website, tested the html build

Fourth day(5:25:41):

• implemented tutorial (sprites, logic, sounds, etc)
• environment particle system
• bugfixes
• worked on website