{"author_name":"savethejets1","cat":"LD #27","comments":[],"epoch":1378872060,"likes":2,"metadata":{"p_key":"37925","p_author":"savethejets1","p_authorkey":"15315","p_urlkey":"73541","p_title":"Mechy Mech Mech Mechanics","p_cat":"LD #27","p_event":"LD27","p_time":"1378872060","p_likes":"2","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"15315","us_name":"savethejets1","us_username":"savethejets1","event_start":"1377216000","event_key":"18","event_name":"LD27"},"text":"

It was Saturday. I had just spent a whole bunch of hours getting basic things set up and working on some art.<\/p>\n

I had come up with a basic concept for the main mechanic in my game the day earlier and at this point had some basic code for playing around in a level with it.<\/p>\n

The main mechanic I had at that point was a platformer where you had 10 seconds to live but there were door\/portal things that would switch the direction of gravity 90 degrees. It was fun to play around with in my test level. But a thought crossed my mind: How am I going to increase the level of challenge through the 10 or so levels I had planned? I mean I could throw in spikes or something, but what else? After a level or two of that might get old. How would I come up with more puzzles and keep the player hooked by having something \u00a0fresh every few levels?<\/p>\n

The main mechanic needed some tweaking.<\/p>\n

I’ve read\/heard that if you can’t come up with at least 5 good puzzles that use a mechanic then you should ditch that mechanic.<\/p>\n

I had run into this situation; I couldn’t think of any good puzzles beyond one or two. I knew that I needed to change.<\/p>\n

Luckily I had been messing around with the concept of the game being on an alien world, and I had come up with a few plant looking sprites. Here’s the concept art that the game was spawn from:\"Mock-up\"<\/a><\/p>\n

See those purple door like things? They were the door\/portal thingy mechanic.<\/p>\n

Anyways Luckily I had drawn the green thing next to the purple thing, because I had a brain wave. Why not have the character sprout from the green things and the green things could give the player different elemental properties!!<\/p>\n

Immediately I came up with a bunch of different things I could do with that idea. You could have fire or water breathing or … the list went on.<\/p>\n

I knew this was a better mechanic.<\/p>\n

In the end I’m glad I ditched the other mechanic because the game turned out pretty good. I’m really happy with it at least.<\/p>\n

If you haven’t given it a try here’s the link<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>","time":"September 10th, 2013 11:01 pm","title":"Mechy Mech Mech Mechanics"}