Reflecting

This is the second LD I entered with my two friends, and I think we honed our scoping abilities even more from LD51. By many accounts, this is my most successful jam game yet. I measure that not just from feedback, but also how we feel about the game. It feels like the most complete of an experience we've achieved, even though it ended up being a short playthrough.

Brainstorming

From the brainstorming session, we came out with two strong ideas: 1. A body-building competition (literally harvesting body parts and building monsters to fight in a ring) 2. A horror game where you need to rescue your child from a corn field.

We weighed the pros and cons of each idea. We were certain we could pull off #1, even if there would be a fair amount of content generation involved, but we were intrigued by #2. We had wanted to try making a horror game. We were worried about pulling off the environment that would be required to sell the mood, but we knew that if we succeeded, we would feel ecstatic.

The Implementation

Throughout the implementation of "They Hide in the Fields", from the visual design to the sound design and the mechanics, we made a lot of decisions. Those decisions had impacts, and not all of them were intentional, which is interesting. It might have been that we had a strong vision, and that vision came through in the end. It might have been that we got lucky in some places. And there are certainly places for improvement (which we noted).

What I came to realize as I watched people play, and reflected, was that there were some good lessons with respect to game design. I'd like to share them.

Play "They Hide in the Fields"

At this point, if you haven't played our game, you might benefit from doing so before reading on! I'll try to keep spoilers to a minimum, even so.

Here are some "Lessons Learned"

1. Using Spatial Audio

As the sound designer, I don't remember thinking, "3D audio will be a main mechanic." It just sort of happened as it emerged from the scene building. In the end, I think that having the player listen so closely to audio clues while otherwise the soundscape is filled with red herrings and minimal musical hits worked out so well to create a chilling effect--a sort of audio paranoia. And when "that moment" comes, the effect is very pronounced. I'd compare it to the old meme of forcing someone to stare at a tiny point on a screen, only to suddenly reveal a terrifying face.

2. Playing Tricks with Lights

One of our developers has good experience with shaders, and he ended up taking on the responsibility of visual design. He certainly had a vision for what he wanted, and he worked half of the second day to get it working. In the end, the PSX graphics really solidified the spooky vibes. On top of that, he added certain color coding and luminous objects that played tricks with the player's perception. Was that a star in the night sky? Did it move? Was that something floating overhead? I think this aspect, along with the jittery motion of the corn, builds a strong visual paranoia--in addition to the audio effects.

3. Out of the Player's Hands?

One theme I am never a fan of is one that implies taking away the player's control. Obviously, games will always have events or mechanics that force a response from the player (e.g., you don't control what an enemy does), but stripping a player's agency a la forcing them to move or drop an item can end up feeling punishing and not fun.

In the first half of our game, the player uses audio cues (and a "call-and-response" mechanic) to find their son. If they risk making too much noise, they'll be found by their hunters. If the player succeeds in finding the child, we asked how the gameplay should change: the call-and-response mechanism is now pointless, but the energy should be building, if nothing else. We tested an automated call-and-response (your son is scared, and can't stop talking), which increases the likelihood that they'll be found as they make their way back home. Eventually, they might even feel forced to run for it. We were worried about stripping the player of agency, but we also felt like we needed to drive a change in this "second act." In the end, most people seemed to enjoy it (or at least tolerate it, even if the kid wouldn't stop talking). At any rate, no one seemed to think it was unfair.

The Results

Ratings are finishing up this week, and we feel like we've definitely had our share! We're thankful to everyone who has already played and shared their experience with us.

Very quickly, we noticed some categories not being rated. Now, this isn't new to me: there are times I don't feel comfortable rating a category, either because I don't think it applied (e.g., humor or mood), or I felt that I didn't have enough information to confirm the source of assets (e.g., graphics or audio).

This time around was the largest differential I've experienced. We have speculated plenty. We think there are reasonable explanations, and those explanations give us some great considerations for future jams!

Firstly, here's our current spread (where a zero means, "full marks", and a -1 means "one fewer rating in this category").

Overall:     0
Fun:        -3
Innovation: -4
Theme:      -2
Graphics:    0
Audio:      -5
Mood:       -3

• It might be hard to feel like you are having fun when you are being scared!
• Innovation is hard to rate sometimes, especially if you aren't familiar with the genre.
• The theme was a springboard for us, rather than a core mechanic.
• Using spatial audio as a core mechanic is a risk when it isn't supported by all browsers and works best with a stereo setup (speakers or headphones), which not everyone has.
• Mood is always an odd one. Some people have a specific, rigid definition of it. I personally read it as, "How well everything contributes to a cohesive mood."

I don't see any of these as negatives! But it is interesting to think about :)

Closing Up

Thank you for reading! If you learned something new, I'm glad to have shared!

If you've gotten this far, you might enjoy a highlight reel that I composed. It definitely kept us entertained!

https://youtu.be/elRahw1XwVg