Invinciball
Summary
I participated in $5K GameName Game Jam, which lasts for 2 weeks. The theme was "invincible". I created a puzzle game where you play as a ball that cannot be harmed by it's surroundings, but can be affected in other novel ways. For example, turrets exist throughout certain levels, they cannot hurt you, but they may knock you off something you need to balance on.
Info
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Role - Programmer
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Team count - 1
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Duration - 2 weeks
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Engine - Godot .NET
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Language - C#
15/04/26
Responses to play-testing during Jam
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Communicating game rules more efficiently
A very simple change. In the first version, the cubes are close to the player, and does not tell the player how far they can grab objects from. I noticed throughout people play-testing in other levels that the player did not know how far they could grab it from which seemingly impacted their decision-making when solving puzzles.
In the final result, I put it high above the player, which is not far-off the furthest the player can pick up an object which produced positive results for future play-tests.
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Establishing goals through visual language & designing around player controller
TLDR: It's more fun, as a ball, to roll.
This improvement took a few changes to reach the final product that is seen in the game-jam edition of the game. When the player opens the door by parrying the turret, it is visible that the cube is on the other side of the door, which is needed to solve the puzzle.
My intention when designing the level was that the player would know that all they need to do is grab the cube from the door while it's open, but after numerous play-tests.
There were too many instances of players thinking they have to get through the door, despite it being seemingly obvious to me. So instead of designing a different door, or another way to reveal the cube itself, I decided to make it visible from the start of the game, but unreachable.
The bridge that the player has to cross is also now connected to the door, and the player can solve the level more naturally by blasting through the door and swinging round the macaroni-shaped corridor which knocks the cube out. A simple puzzle, but focuses more on controlling the player character alongside puzzle-solving. Before, the player would have had to grab the cube and basically fall off which is not fun-looking or feeling.