Feedback Feedback Friday #153 - February 19 - 22, 2021

It's Feedback Friday time!

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What To Show

• Minimally Viable Product (MVP) - Core game play > everything else
• How To Scope Small (Unity tutorial)
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How To Ask For Feedback

• Be concise.
• Specify what you want feedback on and what you don't.
• Resist the urge to write an immediate defense. Take the time to understand their points. Remember that your friends here are taking time out of their busy schedules to help you for free.

How To Give Feedback

• Be positive. There's something of value in every game.
• Focus on the design, not the designer.

Feedback Friday #152 is here.

 

Can you give me some blunt, honest feedback on a concept?

I was recently reminiscing with friends about old games. I brought up Wizardry 1 as a game where the graphics were so minimal that it forced a lot of the immersion into your own imagination rather than onscreen.

So this is a "visuals first" idea for a retro vector / line art, turn-based, party-based dungeon crawler:



(PLAYABLE CONCEPT)
- WASD/QE moves.
- You can click on the character names in the lower left.
- You can do very little else, although there's a mockup of combat (including non-animated line art monster).

I roughed it out only for the visuals. I'm not interested in gameplay feedback.

I'm interested in your thoughts on whether there would be sufficient interest in a minimalist, black-and-white line art, traditional dungeon crawler -- something with modern UX comforts, smart AI, etc. -- but strictly adhering to the visual style above. I'm not married to this idea, so please be honest. What do you think?


For kicks, here's a screenshot of my first pass, which was a more literal reproduction of 1980's Wizardry:



I made some concessions such as a distance fade and minimalist wall/floor textures.

 

I personally have serious issues with black screens (if I'm on Siliconera for more than like a minute my eyes get wacked out and take a few minutes to readjust) so i wouldn't like it from that perspective.

Independent from the colors used (as well as the genre, which I'm not particularly interested in), the style is actually kind of cool in a way despite its simplicity. I think it would work as a style. I don't know that I'd personally be interested in a game that did it, but I think a lot of that is due to really personal/individual idiosyncrasies.

Regarding your "concessions":

Distance fade: I wouldn't call this a concession, it feels very deliberate and has implications for the experience. I played Zanki Zero a few months back and that game's fade-out (not as aggressive as yours, but still there) definitely made the experience more tense.

Textures: You only show wall textures above but for me this invokes a sort of "weathering" effect, like a finished wall being damaged to expose the brick behind. I like it, but I'm not sure of to what degree I'd expect it to persist or be expanded upon--seeing those textures and then going for a while without seeing any might feel a little weird.



For my game I've been working on, I'm gonna hold off a week. A number of things came up that delayed my progress, and while I've made some big steps, I'm not quite where I need to be, and I'd rather wait than rush it. For the time being I'll just post this GIF:

Edit: well that GIF is ugly. The original recording is 60 FPS, and much smoother. Sorry about that...

 

I like the idea, but I can't say if it would be popular. I think it would depend on the quality of the pacing, writing and sound effects.

Your mock-up doesn't have the same effect on me as the top image, because yours suggests a focus on information conveying rather than emotion. In the top image, the fade-to-black (suggesting hidden things ahead) and clear focus on evocative text immediately creates tension and interest.

So my estimation is that the concept would work as a sort of mix of minimalist horror experience and dungeon crawler, but not so well in terms of pure dungeon crawler mechanics.

 

I like the way the blob grows with intention toward the player there, and the way it suggests pools of blood forming.

 

I suspect that's going to be a common opinion.

(If I were to pursue the monochrome crawler idea, the actual monochrome colors would be configurable.)

Good point!

 

In all honesty I'm probably a bad reference, I see lots of games on Steam I wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole but that have quite positive reviews (anything pixel art, for example).

 

I was going to mention WarSim or classic Dwarf Fortress. But a better comparison is Stone Story RPG, in that they both explicitly embrace a minimalist aesthetic. I don't know if blobber fans would be into monochrome line art when they have visually lush options like Operencia to play, so I thought I'd put the idea out here for opinions.

 

Sorry guys, I was a bit dormant past few weeks, on FF.

I played for few min.
I remember older games like that, it reminds me some shooters back then. Don't remember the title.
My thought is, it looks like hyper casual game. Probably good fit for mobiles.

Regarding art, It feel a bit too dark for me.
Maybe is the fog. I prefer somehow your second screenshot, with no fog.
Maybe the lines fade too quick, making it lest apparent.
I would try making first plan more apparent.

I like how you progressed past few weeks.
I agree with others, I like as the creep expand toward player. That was I think already a feature in last week or two?
Visually is quite nice. I would suggest focus and play more around fun factor.

 

Hello everyone!
So, strangely enough, yesterday I suddenly got an idea to make a game about launching satellites and rockets. For some reasons I decided to try to prototype it. So, I've got Earh, and button. You can launch satellites and they rotate around the planet

It looks like this


And now, I don't know what to do with it. Does this actually sound like an interesting idea? Should I try to make it into a game with a goal and interesting choices?
Not sure if this is a good place to post something like this. But thought some feedback on the core idea might be great
Thanks in advance!

 

@DanielDemidov to be honest, there is too few info, to be able give any sensible feedback.
My opinion is, you should have that feeling, that what you are making is fun to play.
If lacking of an inspiration, look for similar games. Or even Kerbal Space program.
You can also watch space launches, including SpaceX missions.

As for me, for such game gravity and velocity should be major aspect of the game.

 

Like Antypodish said, there's not a lot to go on. You could make all sorts of things from this beginning.

If you want orbital mechanics to be the focus, perhaps something like orbital transfer between planets would be fun?

 

Maybe you need to manage them to keep them from colliding and causing a collisional cascade disaster.

Or plan and position them to establish a global communications network.

Or maybe a sci-fi game where you can launch satellites from multiple planets to scan the planets for resources, and you start with a limited amount of resources to build satellites.

 

Thanks for the replies!
Generally speaking, I would like to make this game as simple as possible (yet fun). So, maybe a kind of a clicker with managing sattellites according to resources with the goal of establishing a global satellites' net would be fun?

 

Clicker is fun, as clicker are

Probably. Something like that could add some depth to it.

I give you hint:
Build virtual SpaceX starlink net

 

Yeah, I thought about Elon Musk, thanks
Though, would this be achievable taking into account the fact that its my third prototype and (maybe) first complete game

 

Yes. It think a simplified version could be a good modest goal. Maybe it's more of an action game. As things are spinning, you click to launch a satellite. The goal is to get, say, 8 satellites fairly evenly distributed around the planet. If so, you win. If they're too bunched together, they either don't provide adequate coverage or they crash into each other. Or maybe in the first level you only need to launch 2 satellites. In the second level, 3 satellites, etc.

 

Thanks!
Will probably try to make it a casual business game
Added budget and reputation, will see how it goes

 

I think this seems like a very interesting way to visualize the game. If the walls and and floor have slight differences in different areas, I think it would make the world feel more real. I also think that when the monsters pop up out of nowhere is a bit jarring. It could be perhaps remidied by having the monsters either fade in or make slight noises. I do think that even if the visual style is minimalistic, I don't think that mean the soundscape has to be minimalistic. With the right atmospheric audio it could become almost like a horror game.
In conclusion I definitely think this visual style could work.

 

Thanks! I should've made it more clear that the prototype is just to convey the idea of the visual concept. It doesn't have any polish or juice. I also imagine that monsters would fade in, you'd hear noises in the distance, you'd get text clues like in the screenshot, etc. But you wouldn't see a monster until you stepped into the monster's square. That's intentional.

It's interesting that, of the limited feedback, two of you suggested horror. Is it because the screen is black? I also prototyped a version with a custom shader that looks more like a sketch on parchment:



I scrapped that one because it looks like it's trying too hard to be unique. But does it still make you think of horror? If it were inverted (black lines on a white background), would you think horror then?

 

I personally wasn't thinking about horror. But selection of latest colors and visuals, it makes much more appealing to me.

The horror feeling is probably based, on the low visibility and indeed dar scenery. Is like trying to scare out at sudden. Is typical trick in games and films, specially, when having hard time to build up the horror climate over certain time span.

But in your game, it may be a good thing.

 

While the darkness probably is a part of the reason, I actually think it's more to do with the fear of the unknown. With the minimalistic graphics and the text/audio hinting of danger lurking ahead, it could lead to a very scary scenario.
Although, if the colours were inverted, I think it might feel more sterile/clean than if it was mostly black.
The sketch on parchment version also looked very interesting, though I still personally prefer the black and white version, since it felt more mysterious.

 

That's the end of this Feedback Friday.
Come back next Friday for more feedback.