{"author_link":"\/users\/daanvanyperen","author_name":"daanvanyperen","author_uid":"daanvanyperen","comments":[],"epoch":1524733722,"event":"LD41","format":"md","ldjam_node_id":94446,"likes":4,"metadata":{"p_key":"113943","p_author":"daanvanyperen","p_authorkey":"1006977","p_urlkey":"329903","p_title":"PART 2: Wreckless Rally: Prototyping Smototyping!","p_cat":"LDJam ","p_event":"LD41","p_time":"1524733722","p_likes":"4","p_comments":"0","p_status":"WAYBACK","us_key":"1006977","us_name":"daanvanyperen","us_username":"daanvanyperen","event_start":"1524182400","event_key":"72","event_name":"LD 41"},"node":{"_collation":{"body_sanitizer":"TextUtils::SanitizeHTML via existing importer","event":"LD41","removed_author":false},"_superparent":73256,"_trust":1,"author":6977,"body":"![title-part2.png](\/\/\/raw\/14b\/1\/z\/141e3.png)\n\n[Back to Part 1: Brainstorming and Merging Two Genres](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/41\/wreckless-rally\/post-1-wreckless-rally-brainstorming-and-merging-two-genres)\n\n# Prototyping Smototyping!\n\nWe could have the player knock or tow cars into pit stops. Perhaps it is more fun to make chains in place. Would it be fun to allow the player to reorder the cars on his towing chain? It\u2019s hard to gauge any of this without a prototype, so we set our goal for day one: have a working prototype!\n\n## What didn\u2019t work\n\nApproaching this like a typical jewel-matching game doesn\u2019t work out of the box. A screen filled with cars becomes really hard to process when the camera moves and you are also trying to avoid crashing into things. \n\n![car-overload.png](\/\/\/raw\/14b\/1\/z\/141e5.png)\n\nSo lets tune down the number of cars. We also tune some other aspects until they feel right; scrolling speed, car control.\n\nTowing cars onto pitstops feels fun but can be a bit hard and one-dimensional, chaining cars on the track feels pleasing as well and provides a lot of freedom. If we keep both mechanics and make one a bonus mechanic the whole core loop becomes a lot richer.\n\nReordering the cars on the tow chain doesn\u2019t really add much except requiring an extra button, so let\u2019s just allow the player to release the tow with a button press.\n\n## Oh no! All our cars are off-grid!\n\nFor the player making chains of off-grid cars is very hard, and our algorithm a lot more fidgety, so lets make them gravitate towards a grid.\n\n![grid-snap.gif](\/\/\/raw\/14b\/1\/z\/141e8.gif)\n\nNot perfect, but it makes the game a lot easier to play.\n\n## Giving players more control\n\nTowed cars count as chainable pieces on the board. Making sets on the chain feels really rewarding and intuitive, but players will never be able to tow more than two cars at once without them instantly plopping out of existence. It also means longer pit stops have to be multi color or players cannot fill them easily.\n\n![insta-chaining.gif](\/\/\/raw\/14b\/1\/z\/141ea.gif)\n\nGood matcher\/jewel games allow you to intuitively pick up the mechanics, but have more meat to them. What happens if I chain four gems? What happens if i make two chains cascade?\n\nLets count cars in tow as out of the game and using a button to release. Hey presto! Suddenly longer pit stops work, and *players control when to cash in* multiple color chains at once. Fun achieved!\n\n![chain-popping.gif](\/\/\/raw\/14b\/1\/z\/141ec.gif)\n\n## \u201cBut the cars aren\u2019t moving and this is a race\u201d\n\nCollaboration is both a lot of fun and a lot of frustration at the same. The game feels fun, and now our graphics guy @Flaterectomy is complaining the race isn\u2019t a race! Drats.\n\n![boring.gif](\/\/\/raw\/14b\/1\/z\/141ed.gif)\n\nGetting the cars moving quickly turns the game into an impossible task; suddenly either the scroll the map faster and have pit stops race past, or the cars scuttle all over the place giving our poor player a chaotic cat herding experience, what can we do?\n\n![everythingmoving.gif](\/\/\/raw\/14b\/1\/z\/141ee.gif)\n\nLet\u2019s compromise. Have a couple of racer cars run in from behind, and have the majority of the cars appear crashed. Surprisingly this provides a great sense of immersion to the game without frustrating the plyer, and as an added bonus, it introduces some themed hazards to avoid.\n\n![some-cars-now-move.gif](\/\/\/raw\/14b\/1\/z\/141ef.gif)\n\n[Next up: Meat of the Code](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/41\/wreckless-rally\/part-3-wreckless-rally-meat-of-the-code)\n\n## [More parts here!](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/41\/wreckless-rally)\n## [Play wreckless-rally here](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/41\/wreckless-rally)\n\n","comments":0,"created":"2018-04-26T09:02:05Z","files":[],"files-timestamp":0,"id":94446,"love":4,"love-timestamp":"2018-04-26T10:00:37Z","meta":[],"modified":"2018-04-26T18:46:31Z","name":"PART 2: Wreckless Rally: Prototyping Smototyping!","node-timestamp":"2018-04-26T18:46:31Z","parent":75601,"parents":[1,5,9,73256,75601],"path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/41\/wreckless-rally\/post-2-wreckless-rally-prototyping-smototyping","published":"2018-04-26T09:08:42Z","scope":"public","slug":"post-2-wreckless-rally-prototyping-smototyping","subsubtype":"","subtype":"","type":"post","version":278576},"node_metadata":{"n_key":"94446","n_urlkey":"329903","n_parent":"75601","n_path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/41\/wreckless-rally\/post-2-wreckless-rally-prototyping-smototyping","n_slug":"post-2-wreckless-rally-prototypi","n_type":"post","n_subtype":"","n_subsubtype":"","n_author":"6977","n_created":"1524733325","n_modified":"1524768391","n_version":"278576","n_status":"WAYBACK"},"source_url":"https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/41\/wreckless-rally\/post-2-wreckless-rally-prototyping-smototyping","text":"![title-part2.png](\/\/\/raw\/14b\/1\/z\/141e3.png)\n\n[Back to Part 1: Brainstorming and Merging Two Genres](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/41\/wreckless-rally\/post-1-wreckless-rally-brainstorming-and-merging-two-genres)\n\n# Prototyping Smototyping!\n\nWe could have the player knock or tow cars into pit stops. Perhaps it is more fun to make chains in place. Would it be fun to allow the player to reorder the cars on his towing chain? It\u2019s hard to gauge any of this without a prototype, so we set our goal for day one: have a working prototype!\n\n## What didn\u2019t work\n\nApproaching this like a typical jewel-matching game doesn\u2019t work out of the box. A screen filled with cars becomes really hard to process when the camera moves and you are also trying to avoid crashing into things. \n\n![car-overload.png](\/\/\/raw\/14b\/1\/z\/141e5.png)\n\nSo lets tune down the number of cars. We also tune some other aspects until they feel right; scrolling speed, car control.\n\nTowing cars onto pitstops feels fun but can be a bit hard and one-dimensional, chaining cars on the track feels pleasing as well and provides a lot of freedom. If we keep both mechanics and make one a bonus mechanic the whole core loop becomes a lot richer.\n\nReordering the cars on the tow chain doesn\u2019t really add much except requiring an extra button, so let\u2019s just allow the player to release the tow with a button press.\n\n## Oh no! All our cars are off-grid!\n\nFor the player making chains of off-grid cars is very hard, and our algorithm a lot more fidgety, so lets make them gravitate towards a grid.\n\n![grid-snap.gif](\/\/\/raw\/14b\/1\/z\/141e8.gif)\n\nNot perfect, but it makes the game a lot easier to play.\n\n## Giving players more control\n\nTowed cars count as chainable pieces on the board. Making sets on the chain feels really rewarding and intuitive, but players will never be able to tow more than two cars at once without them instantly plopping out of existence. It also means longer pit stops have to be multi color or players cannot fill them easily.\n\n![insta-chaining.gif](\/\/\/raw\/14b\/1\/z\/141ea.gif)\n\nGood matcher\/jewel games allow you to intuitively pick up the mechanics, but have more meat to them. What happens if I chain four gems? What happens if i make two chains cascade?\n\nLets count cars in tow as out of the game and using a button to release. Hey presto! Suddenly longer pit stops work, and *players control when to cash in* multiple color chains at once. Fun achieved!\n\n![chain-popping.gif](\/\/\/raw\/14b\/1\/z\/141ec.gif)\n\n## \u201cBut the cars aren\u2019t moving and this is a race\u201d\n\nCollaboration is both a lot of fun and a lot of frustration at the same. The game feels fun, and now our graphics guy @Flaterectomy is complaining the race isn\u2019t a race! Drats.\n\n![boring.gif](\/\/\/raw\/14b\/1\/z\/141ed.gif)\n\nGetting the cars moving quickly turns the game into an impossible task; suddenly either the scroll the map faster and have pit stops race past, or the cars scuttle all over the place giving our poor player a chaotic cat herding experience, what can we do?\n\n![everythingmoving.gif](\/\/\/raw\/14b\/1\/z\/141ee.gif)\n\nLet\u2019s compromise. Have a couple of racer cars run in from behind, and have the majority of the cars appear crashed. Surprisingly this provides a great sense of immersion to the game without frustrating the plyer, and as an added bonus, it introduces some themed hazards to avoid.\n\n![some-cars-now-move.gif](\/\/\/raw\/14b\/1\/z\/141ef.gif)\n\n[Next up: Meat of the Code](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/41\/wreckless-rally\/part-3-wreckless-rally-meat-of-the-code)\n\n## [More parts here!](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/41\/wreckless-rally)\n## [Play wreckless-rally here](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/41\/wreckless-rally)\n\n","title":"PART 2: Wreckless Rally: Prototyping Smototyping!","wayback_source":[]}