Cut the Rope: how we make updates to the game
Hello!
The fact is that for our games Cut the Rope and Cut the Rope: Experiments, we regularly release updates - new sets of levels, in each of the sets - a new game element. Updates for each game come out about once every 2 months, they go out of phase, so it turns out on release every month.
And today I want to tell about the last update Cut the Rope - Buzz Box (Honey box) to tell how we are working on the updates of the game.
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The calendar preparation of the new update lasts about a month, that is, after the release of the next update, we will soon begin work on the next one. The work is divided into phases - brainstorming ideas for a new game element and selecting a short list of them, prototyping selected, review of prototypes and choosing an idea for a future update, and then the actual development - the development of a prototype to a complete solution, the development of levels, the creation of graphics.
The ideas that were selected in the short list for the latest update:
We made prototypes, it turned out that the first idea about the wind does not bring any special interest to the game. Reverse gravity seemed interesting, but it was postponed as a possible option to one of the future updates, and decided to stop on the loose ropes.
Then you can begin to refine the prototype to the combat sample.
The game designer begins work on the levels. In each box there are 25 of them, in the process of working on the box, we make about 50-60 pieces, of which we then select the most suitable ones. With the help of a game designer and lead game designer, it takes 2-3 weeks. To create levels we have our own editor:
It is online, the levels created in it are immediately available for download on the debug version of the game, so new levels and edits to them can be tested in the game immediately - without reassembly.
Artists invent and paint the visual embodiment of the idea. Flying ropes are good, but how is it visually present? We had choices of helicopter, ladybirds, and so on:
And how will it all be animated? Will it be cool?
As a result, stopped at the bees. In addition to the bees, you need to make a general theme - a game background, a stand on which Om Nom sits, to draw a beautiful trajectory of the bee movement:
So, in the end, what will be in the final version appears:
Well, it remains for the programmer to bring the physics of the new elements to the final, insert all new pictures and animations into the game, add a box, fill it with levels, make the unlock logic for this box (“you need to type NNN stars to open this box”), fix the errors found .
Voila, the update is ready! We are waiting for a couple of weeks of passage through the App Store and post a promotional video:
Beginning with Honey Box, we started a new tradition of releasing updates on iOS and Android at the same time. Porting a new functional from iOS to Android takes - along with testing and debugging - about a week. This is just possible to do while waiting for the passage of the new version through the App Store.
Ps. It turned out a funny story with the name of the box. Initially they wanted to call it (logical!) Honey Box, but it turned out that this was not a decent phrase, so it was renamed Buzz Box;)
The fact is that for our games Cut the Rope and Cut the Rope: Experiments, we regularly release updates - new sets of levels, in each of the sets - a new game element. Updates for each game come out about once every 2 months, they go out of phase, so it turns out on release every month.
And today I want to tell about the last update Cut the Rope - Buzz Box (Honey box) to tell how we are working on the updates of the game.
')
The calendar preparation of the new update lasts about a month, that is, after the release of the next update, we will soon begin work on the next one. The work is divided into phases - brainstorming ideas for a new game element and selecting a short list of them, prototyping selected, review of prototypes and choosing an idea for a future update, and then the actual development - the development of a prototype to a complete solution, the development of levels, the creation of graphics.
The ideas that were selected in the short list for the latest update:
- crosswind of varying strength and directivity that can blow lollipop to the side
- loose, moving along a given path, the ends of the ropes
- reverse gravity zones in which the lollipop moves in the opposite direction
We made prototypes, it turned out that the first idea about the wind does not bring any special interest to the game. Reverse gravity seemed interesting, but it was postponed as a possible option to one of the future updates, and decided to stop on the loose ropes.
Then you can begin to refine the prototype to the combat sample.
The game designer begins work on the levels. In each box there are 25 of them, in the process of working on the box, we make about 50-60 pieces, of which we then select the most suitable ones. With the help of a game designer and lead game designer, it takes 2-3 weeks. To create levels we have our own editor:
It is online, the levels created in it are immediately available for download on the debug version of the game, so new levels and edits to them can be tested in the game immediately - without reassembly.
Artists invent and paint the visual embodiment of the idea. Flying ropes are good, but how is it visually present? We had choices of helicopter, ladybirds, and so on:
And how will it all be animated? Will it be cool?
As a result, stopped at the bees. In addition to the bees, you need to make a general theme - a game background, a stand on which Om Nom sits, to draw a beautiful trajectory of the bee movement:
So, in the end, what will be in the final version appears:
Well, it remains for the programmer to bring the physics of the new elements to the final, insert all new pictures and animations into the game, add a box, fill it with levels, make the unlock logic for this box (“you need to type NNN stars to open this box”), fix the errors found .
Voila, the update is ready! We are waiting for a couple of weeks of passage through the App Store and post a promotional video:
Beginning with Honey Box, we started a new tradition of releasing updates on iOS and Android at the same time. Porting a new functional from iOS to Android takes - along with testing and debugging - about a week. This is just possible to do while waiting for the passage of the new version through the App Store.
Ps. It turned out a funny story with the name of the box. Initially they wanted to call it (logical!) Honey Box, but it turned out that this was not a decent phrase, so it was renamed Buzz Box;)
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/137564/
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