So far so good.  I aimed for a super simple scope so I would have time to iterate on the mechanics. Had something working last night and have more mechanics this morning.

It’s a simple word game where sending correct words digs into deeper layers.  Only words from the same layers can be combined.

Word-Digger! (play it here: http://mcsdwvl.github.io/worddigger/build/build.html )

The problem is it’s not fun at all!  I think I need to change the basic mechanic.  Clicking letters is BORING.  Maybe I should make users select contiguous letters?  Maybe I should make a stricter time limit/moves limit?  There’s no pressure and no puzzle, so nothing is fun!  Gotta take a break, walk the dog, and try to figure out where to go from here.

WORD DIGGER!  play it: http://mcsdwvl.github.io/worddigger/build/build.html

Game is coming along, getting to be more funnerer, but it’s still missing some je ne sais quoi.  It feels like it’s not quite a game yet. Key changes that have moved the ball forward:

1. Adding a timer put the pressure on and made it more “gamey”.
2. Adding “bomb” pieces made it possible to get out of situations that previously just felt unfair:

Time for another break I think.  Dog was pretty happy about the last one

Word Digger!  play it online here: http://mcsdwvl.github.io/worddigger/build/build.html

Not sure where to go next or how to make it more fun!  It’s… ok.  Not the funnest thing ever, or super original, but kind of enjoyable. I fixed the colors which everyone who played (thanks for playing btw!) complained about:

I also added leaderboards, and, well, I beat your mom!

not sure what to do next.  Score multipliers?  More special tiles (on top of bombs)?  Music & SFX?  Better title screen? I feel like there’s something that could make it really fun that is just out of reach.

This is why my game doesn’t have any art.

shiiiiiiiiip ittttttttt

Last minute freakout when someone told me that their browser was auto scaling my web-player, and NOTHING FIT RIGHT BECAUSE OF IT!!

Thanks chrome/unity!

So I hacked together some UGLY stuff to get it to scale properly.

THE MOST EXCITING GIF EVER?!

also a quick question, is linking to my github repo enough for source?  I’m not sure who looks at source or why or what they want.  Everything you need is in there but not the unity housekeeping stuff that goes with it.

I’m having a problem with my game.  After the user is prompted to allow the web player to run, and accepts, it doesn’t take any mouse input.

Switching tabs then switching back allows input to be received.

Has anyone experienced this?  Is there a solution?  I’m worried that I’m losing votes/getting bad votes because of it, but I’m not sure if it’s something I did wrong or a bug in the web player itself.

What does (t * 5 & t >> 7) | (t * 3 & t >> 10) sound like?

I added Music to my game with 1 C# file consisting of a single small function & swappable sample function.  I wanted to show it to you guys!


void OnAudioFilterRead(float[] data, int channels)
{
  for (var i = 0; i < data.Length; i = i + channels)
    data[i] = data[i] + (float)(Gain * (SampleFunction1(t++)%256)/256f);
}

int SampleFunction1(int t) { return (t * 5 & t >> 7) | (t * 3 & t >> 10); }

Inspiration from here:

(spoilers his name is meowrio)

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Starting late.

Idea sucks.

Art sucks.

OH WELL HERE WE GOOOOOOOOOO!!!

meet nipnips

HOLY **** YOU ARE ZOMBIES!??

God I am so far behind all of you beautiful talented people.

not bad not bad wheee zombieeeeeee

Don’t get bit!

You’ll turn into one of those things!

Feeling a bit overwhelmed by how much more needs to get added to make this into a “game”, but slow and steady progress is at least something.  Might have made a classic scope mistake this time.

We’ll see if I’m a zombie by the end.

The ever beloved limited field of vision!

And menu with attacks!

Game is pretty far away from fun still, but I am switching over to the Jam (getting a little animation help anyway, and now there’s more time).

Our game is as done as it’s gonna get!

Everything works but didn’t leave enough time for tuning and finding the fun.

Thanks Obama.

PLAY ZOMBIE TACTICS

LESSON LEARNED: Make Something Smaller!

I feel like this is the same story every single LD. The point at which your game works completely, has EVERY feature you want, AND has some final content in is really the halfway mark.

From there you have to playtest like crazy to “find the fun”.

I feel like the wisest choice is to make a game you’re sure you can finish in just a few hours. A – you’re probably wrong and it will take longer. B – you need to allocate > 50% of your time to discovery, tuning, and adjustment.

Zombie Tactics has ~90% of the features I intended to add, but it feels empty and the fun isn’t really there.  There’s a kernel of something interesting, but it’s only barely touching it instead of fully living inside it.

Smaller scope and more iteration!

LESSON LEARNED: Work with people!

I normally go solo but this time I worked with my girlfriend who provided animation and art. It was so much more fun working as a team! I hesitated at first because I wanted to enter the compo, but let’s be real – I probably wouldn’t win the compo alone, and working with people is so much more rewarding.