My game is going off track, need some ideas and inspiration!

I'm about 3 months into developing a game.
Upon playtesting, the feedback on some ideas I had weren't quite as "fun" as I'd hoped and were just kind of frustrating.
There are some fun core mechanics in place (melee combat, gun combat, enemies, allies that follow you around and help you out) so I've decided to pull out those core concepts and expand on them rather than trying to improve the frustrating parts.

What I'm thinking of doing now if some sort of "Mutation" system, sort of like a skill tree which gives you different abilities and perks as you gain experience, and may also modify the look of your character slightly.

I'm a bit worried this will just turn into a typical hack and slash game though so I'm lacking in motivation.
Does anyone have any ideas for how I could make it a bit different, perhaps some ideas for mutations that they think could be fun?

Mutation examples:

• Rapid Growth - Enlarge and deal double melee damage and knockback
• Focus - Guns automatically snap to the weak points on enemies for a limited time
• Bile of Vitality - Vomit on yourself and allies to provide a healing effect
• Hyper Alacrity - Increase your reaction speed so much that time appears to slow for a limited time

 

I personally would want to see the game before I made any recommendations. You know about Feedback Friday, right?

 

@EternalAmbiguity Fair enough! Yes, I will have to post in the next one.

 

you've not really given us much by way of detail about what type of game you're making, so ideas for improvement might be a little thin...

 

Why not mix up the non-friendly NPC's a little? For example, strangers you encounter could follow one of a number of motivations :

1. Scared - if you approach them but don't attack, they get scared and drop something useful for you. If you attack them, they call their friends and you find yourself surrounded. A peaceful approach would have served you best here.
2. Protective - will act aggressive but if you simply back off, they will calm down. If you attack them, they get enraged and turn out to fight with a vengeance. You should have left that guy alone!
3. Dangerous - this enemy will just attack you.

This would mean that, every time you encounter a stranger, you would have a decision to make: do I approach but not attack? Do I just steer clear and I'll be ok? Do I have no choice but to face down this enemy?

 

@LeftyRighty Yeah I was a bit worried that might be the case. I will put together a video to show what I've got this weekend.

@Doug_B Thanks, I like this idea. The setting is a dystopian world where a science experiment gone wrong has released spores into the air which have affected the majority of the population in various ways.
There will be different types of enemies with different "mutations" (Think left 4 dead).
I could also have the mutations affect their agression levels in some way as you said.
Some will be recruitable.
You play one of the lead scientists who has a special weapon which can utilise different types of "spores" dropped from different enemy types. The different spores cause the weapon to have different effects.
You can also use the spores to create potions which affect the character in various ways (such as the abilities in my first post)

 

Just for fun, try this surprisingly difficult exercise: Can you summarize the essence of your game in exactly three words?

 

@TonyLi hmm it is definitely difficult but I'll try:
Adaptable, Bizarre, Satisfying.
I don't think that really describes the game, but the feel I want for the game.

If you mean the content of the game I guess:
Mutation, Combat, Progression.

 

@Serinx - sorry, I was unclear. I meant something more like a three word sentence, preferably with a verb, like:

Left 4 Dead: "Escape zombies together."

Gone Home: "Discover sister's romance."

Even if it doesn't have a verb, it should be a single phrase, like:

PUBG: "Last man standing."

It cuts to the heart of the game, even if it doesn't necessarily cover everything the game is about. And it's even harder than coming up with three disjointed words. But it's an awesome exercise to convey to us readers the essential experience that you want to give players.

 

@TonyLi Oh right, I'll give it a shot...

"Become the mutation"

Although, you're not really becoming a mutant but utilising the mutants powers for yourself.
"Utilise the mutation" doesn't have the same ring to it.

Maybe "Mutants fuel weapon"?

Maybe you can think of a better one along those lines? haha

 

That's what make the exercise so interesting. Those three phrases seem like different games. A good three-worder is like a design mantra. The Left 4 Dead one is a good example: "Escape zombies together." Designers and players immediately know that you're not going to be a space marine wiping out all the zombies in the level; you're just trying to survive to the exit point. And you're facing zombies, with all the trappings of the genre. And you're working together, not competitively in some kind of free-for-all arena. In Left 4 Dead, every detail supports that three-worder.

I hope I'm not getting too far off track from your original post. I think it's just an interesting way to analyze a game concept.

 

@TonyLi That's very helpful. I definitely want to capture the essence of my game, I find it very difficult to explain my game to people when they ask which I know is a bad thing!

I'll keep working on my Mantra and hopefully it will become more clear to everyone and myself.

Thanks for your advice

 

I was going to say - Seems like you might be missing the core theme/concept/drive of creating the game itself. Rather you have put some mechanics together in hopes of finding inspiration for some theme/concept along the way.

- But - this was the core theme/concept I was looking for.

How about "Avoid the Mutation" or "Mutation is Fuel"?

Can you describe these ideas and what was not fun / frustrating about them?

I'm getting a Last of Us vibe from the info you've provided.

What if the player character was infected with a test antidote just prior to the event. Didn't give him immunity to the symptoms others are experiencing, but instead gives him 'different' abilities depending on which spore he encounters, via different environments. Maybe certain type of spores (red) gives him a certain ability to fight only a certain type of infected, but the red spores are only in area where green spore infected are gathered, so he needs to gain green spore ability to get the red spore. etc etc. Powers are built up while progressing, learning how to control the spore abilities better. I kind of ignored the gun play mentioned, and common in most games. Maybe not having a gun would be fun? That super hero game Sony had created for the ps2 and ps3 game didn't have weapons, from my vague memory.

 

@theANMATOR2b Thanks for your input.

The thing people found frustrating was managing your allies. I had a system where you could walk up to certain people, recruit them to your squad, and then command them using a command wheel (Attack, Loot, Stay, Follow). The whole process was very disjointed and interrupted the flow of the game. You'd have to order them to pickup a weapon off the ground and it just slowed the pace down.

I've simplified this concept so that you can temporarily convert mutants to your team (using a certain type of spore) and they will follow you around, defend you, and attack nearby enemies. No commanding needed.

The paragraph you added at the end was basically what I invisioned, except that you are a scientist who worked on the experiment and so you know how to manage it (hence being able to temporarily cure people of their madness).
The main story would be based around tracking down the other scientist involved who caused the whole incident, and hopefully finding a permanent cure.

I'm not sure if I'll be keeping guns or not. They could become redundant once you get more mutations, I'll be doing another playtest soon showing off the spores and mutations so hopefully feedback will reveal what the players find most interesting.

Really appreciate your input guys, this has sparked my imagination for sure!

 

1. Give the player activated abilities that consume a resource
2. Put the player in varied situations that encourage the player to change up their play style
   • Different terrain and props
   • Different enemy types and combinations of enemy types

I like the mutation idea. I recommend focusing on giving the player activated abilities rather than passive effects because the player has to make a decision about when to use them. Give the players more things to think about. Make them make decisions.

For the abilities, give the player limited charges rather than a cooldown. Cooldown abilities can easily become a thing the player uses at the beginning of every fight. If the player always does it, it's not an interesting decision; it's a boring routine. Give them charges and they have to decide if it's worth expending a resource.

You could make each ability have their own charges, or you could make them all expend charges from the same pool. The upside of making them share a resource is that the player has to decide which ability is better to use. The downside is you'll have to balance the abilities carefully or else the player will always just use the best one. Of course, you can make the more powerful abilities expend more charges, but, still, balancing them would take extra work.

Now, that you gave the player some abilities, put them in different situations so that some abilities are more useful than others depending on the situation. If the player get's in a certain routine of always using the same abilities, they will get bored. That's why you need to change up the situation. Here are ways you can do that: terrain, props, and enemy types.

Terrain ideas

• Mud or something that slows movement (favors ranged combatants)
• Choke points (favors small groups against larger groups)
• Open space (favors large groups against smaller groups)
• Floor hazards / cliffs (usually favor ranged combatants, can be interesting to lure enemies into)
• Scattered cover (favors melee combatants)

Prop ideas

• Explosive barrels (a classic)
• Turrets that can be hacked or otherwise converted

Enemy type ideas

• Ranged
• Melee
• Strong
• Weak
• Fast
• Slow

Ability ideas (the ones you listed in the OP were good, these are just addition ideas)

• Teleport where you click (impeding walls make this more useful, open space makes it less useful)
• Throw something that attracts enemies (explosive barrels makes this more useful)
• Circular area of effect attack (open space makes it more useful, impeding walls make it less useful, having a horde of weak enemies makes it more useful, having a few strong enemies makes it less useful)
• Attack the damages everything in a line (choke points make this more useful)
• A hazard that can be placed on the floor (choke points also make this more useful)
• An ability that pushes enemies back (cliffs and floor hazards make this more useful as the player will have something to push the enemies into)

To sum it all up: give the players abilities then create different situations that change which abilities are the most useful. Obviously all of this is a lot to implement. Don't do it all. Implement whatever appeals to you most and also come up with your own ideas. Just make sure to ask yourself this question before adding a new feature: will this force the player to make a decision or change up their play style?

 

@JeremiahJK Thanks so much for your input. You've got some really great ideas there. Having a lot of options and different ways to tackle each encounter is a great idea.
My thought with the different spore types was that they could be used in different ways and some are more effective against certain enemies.
It's their choice whether they want to spam their favourite ones, but this could rapidly deplete their resources and means they might not have the right spore type for the upcoming boss!
Designing the levels to make the different abilities have more purpose is a great idea, I'll definitely think about this once I get into the level design.

Thanks again. I'll refer back to this as I go on