Adding more to this game?

I have a game where basically you have to go around the galaxy hunting down monsters which have escaped to different planets. Also the monsters don't attack they just run away.

So far, so good.

But some testers are saying that it gets a bit boring after a while just killing monsters.

Can you suggest some other mechanics that I could put in the game to make it more interesting. Something more taxing on the brain maybe? Some strategy? For example FTL is a good game because of the learning curve.

For example when you're looking for the monsters throughout the galaxy there isn't really much peril going on. But lots of games, like turn based games, you can go for your lunch in between turns without much happening so I don't think that's the problem.

 

look for a specific type of monster, give hints about what kind of environment it may prefer, now you got a hunting game.

player knows what its poop looks like, they may surmise what it eats. you then go on quest to figure out where these types of things it eats lives. etc

 

Yeah following clues like an old school Carmen Sandiego game could add to the fun. Maybe some more variety than finding monsters, such as finding some ancient relic, finding a ship, finding some resource. Maybe more diverse missions than just finding something, such as need to transport an important person somewhere, need to help someone, need to rescue someone, etc.

You could even add some mini narrative stories to the game.

 

you gotta consider it in the context of, what are my strengths? as well.

Like my suggestion is gonna work if you love writing. But if writings not your thing, you dont wanna base your game design around something that requires lots of writing.

If you are more comfortable with programming and have a strong sense for say, action games, maybe you finagle a way to get some space combat in between your planet exploration. Or some monster-loving rebels are protecting the beast and you gotta crush them or whatever.

 

Maybe some of them are too fast or strong or otherwise elusive for your weapons. Instead of just attacking the monsters head-on, you could devise traps for the monsters. You'd have to learn about the monster's life-cycle so that you know how to bait the monster and what it's weaknesses are.

Monsters that need to be trapped could be something like:

• Maybe one type is invisible under normal circumstances.
  
• One type could exist in an alternate state of physical being and so can only be harmed with some special material (like anti-matter or something).
• One could be from some tachyon universe and so always moves faster than the speed of light.
• Maybe one of the monsters is simply wanted alive. Too valuable to damage.
• On is sparse like a nebula. Even solid materials like steel are too porous to hold it in.
• There are two symbiotic animals that can never be caught together. The only way to catch them is to separate them somehow.
• One is out-of-phase with time. You can never see where it is now, only where it will be in the future.

I recommend watching every episode of Doctor Who from 1963 to present day and every Star Trek series. It will take you years to get through them all but you'll have lots of sci-fi ideas. So worth it.

 

If the core loop gets boring, adding more stuff around it might not fix the root of the problem. Like BIGTIMEMASTER's first post, maybe the core loop is not about pulling the trigger, but about the steps that lead up to that point. But that's just one example. Focus on the core loop.

 

Hmm.... yes, maybe the monsters could leave some energy trails, which you need to collect to power up your weapon. Although... that's still sort of just finding things.

Well, problem is my last games did about half their sales in Japan. So I kind of limit the text in the game to a minimum! (Well, to within reasonable amounts anyway.) Some people have been kind enough to translate a few words here or there like instructions and so on.

 

That's a good point. If you go crazy adding stuff like in my post, that might lead to FEATURE CREEP (in drippy horror-movie font).

Building on what ToniLi was saying about focusing on the core loop- I guess you should think about the flash of inspiration that made you decide that this project would be exciting to work on in the first place. Before you add more, make sure that your current game lives-up to that experience.

 

Hmm.. I like the idea of traps.
I guess you could scan the monsters and it would tell you "This monster can only be killed with fire". Then you have to go and search for some wood to make fire.

(If the monster moved faster than light.. how would you catch it... or even see it??)

 

True, I don't want to add to the core-loop with extraneous things. More like alter the core-loop to give a better rounded game.

 

You couldn't see it. You'd need some sort of tachyon field generator to signal when anything disrupts the field. Nothing slower than light speed will disrupt the field. After you record the exact time of the disruption than you'd send an anti-causality ray at just the right moment. The beam will travel backward in time as it goes forward in space so if you time it right bla bla bla.

Just make stuff up.

 

@kdgalla I love your ideas so much I wanna marry them. (I'm a total physics geek)

@mountainstream why are you against shooting the monster?
maybe have it so that you get an extra reward* for getting it back safe and alive instead of shooting it on sight, have monsters that will be easy to catch with your bare hands and ones that you will have to fight for your life with all the gear to be able to subdue alive.
this adds the extra challenge of transporting it back, maybe two monsters can't be left together because one will kill the other, maybe you can build individual "cells" to keep them in so they won't tear each other apart(upgrading the ship too instead of just the player) you can have a tranq gun to allow people to still enjoy the shooting mechanic, maybe add something like the red dead redemption lasso.

consider either
1) bringing it back alive is a bonus
2) bringing it back dead is a penalty
if bringing it back is a penalty a lot more players are gonna try to bring them back alive.

 

What you have here is a beautiful environment for unique strategies.
So yes, you have to hunt and I guess kill monsters. Why not also have a kill/capture mechanic for rewards?
Here are some suggestions:
1. Schedule or event based alien detection - only during this and that will it appear
2. Sherlock Holmes style hunting
3. Trinket specific hunting, like in the TV series for MIB when they were X-ray scoping for aliens
4. Bait and trap
5. Fishing? Too RNG maybe

Right now, all I can suggest is play/watch on youtube games like:
- Yooka Laylee with the ghost writers
- Warframe with the scan targets for Simaris
- Path-herding like in Pokemon Gold/Silver (Farfetch'd in silex forest i think)
- Racing the Penguing in super mario 64

There are many more I can think of, using different designs to express the same goal.

 

Thanks, yes, I will watch those to see if it gives me some more ideas!

I think I need it so that you get some kind of "progression" for killing each monster. Like a new weapon or vehicle. And some need special weapons to kill them. So you need to remember when you get a new weapon, where was it that you saw that monster who could be killed by this weapon? Maybe it might just need, say 4 types of bullets (for example) and only certain monsters can be killed by certain bullets. Hmmm... I like it.

Maybe you have to scan the monster to see what you need to kill it. Well, it's a start. I think it still needs a bit more to it.

Even better, once you kill the monster, you can extract it's poisonous blood and venom and use this to kill the other monsters.

 

Perhaps there should be legendary monsters which require multiple phases to take down.
E.g. you encounter a Dragonscaled Bat Mole.
At first contact, you need to find a way to break through its scales, but then it flies away.
Next phase it's faster, so you need some way to clips its wings or trap it.
Once it can't fly, it burrows into the ground and you need to find the right bait to lure it out and finish it off.
The player could use their learnings from the other easier monsters on how to discover the weaknesses of the legendary monsters.
Having persistent damage on the same monster will add some emmersion to the world as the player sees that same bloody monster they tried to catch multiple times, taunting them, laughing at their failure, and they become obsessed with catching it.

 

Thats cool idea and all, but imagine the work of coding all these unique situations, then providing the art/animation for it.

 

@BIGTIMEMASTER well the beauty of this is that you could use the same monster model, slightly modified but make it feel like 3 different monsters, without having to create 3 completely different monsters. Also you could probably get away with the same screech/growl sounds. Yes you'd still need 3 times the animations and mechanics, but It sounds like many different types of monsters is already a core part of this game design.
Also, these mechanics could be borrowed from existing mechanics and vice versa - so 1 monster can give birth to 3 different mechanics for 3 new monsters, or you can use 3 existing mechanics for the legendary monster.
If you plan it right, you might just save time!

 

I will add after reading, is the AI good if this game is Single Player? Does it has a difficulty well balanced curve or at least a curve? If i start playing your game now, will the first monster be too easy? or too hard? Then, is the AI i pre planning his strategy to defeat me as a player? How many strategys to defeat me the AI has? I will be not concerned about how many monsters or what skill this monsters does, if the AI it's dumb. So IMO, they need to go hand by hand.

 

After playing a cheap Master of Magic knockoff I noticed that despite being technically superior it still lacked the charm as the OG.

The main reason why is that Master of Magic made the experience personable.

Enemy players were characters that taunted you throughout the game, then had a cut scene of you killing them.

VERY satisfying.

Try giving your monsters personalities. Have them mock you. Have them react to your actions. Give them a defeat screen.