Stir, but do not stir or how we made a game for which we are not ashamed
In this article we want to share the experience of creating our first game. Like any other history of working on your own project, ours contains a partly unique experience that you can learn. The article does not disclose the name of the project and has no links to it, as we talk about our ideas and understanding of a good game, motivation of team members, game design, and not PR. It all started with a single contest, which became the starting point for the development of us as game developers. If you are interested, welcome.
I got the idea to create my own game a year ago, after I was lucky enough to attend the international final of the Imagine Cup 2012 competition, and I learned that in 2013, the category “Games” appeared in the nominations of this competition.
Since this was the very beginning of the project, it was important for me to understand my strengths, weaknesses and find out what competencies are not enough and who should be called to the team. For myself, I highlighted 5 points that should be in a good game:
I already had a good experience in interface design, animation, and in the future project I wanted to be realized as a game designer. Those. I had to find a programmer and artist.
')
At the start of the project, you need to call universal people, people who can combine a lot of roles. And important are people who are ready to take on new tasks and are not afraid of uncertainty. The team must be:
"How to motivate team members?" - They do not need to motivate. If the project is sound, everything is clearly positioned, then the people themselves should be motivated by these things. If a person quickly loses interest, and every time you need to make efforts to re-include it in the process, then this is not the right person for a startup. A man without intrinsic motivation is bad for the team.
The first to join me in the idea of ​​taking part in the Imagine Cup and create my own project was my dorm roommate. He wanted to take on tasks related to architecture, development and programming. The artist in our team was my friend from the university who was fond of drawing and sometimes published his sketches on his VK page.
Probably, as in any startup, we held our first meetings in cozy cafes of our city, Perm, where we invented the concept of our future project. At first we just got together and discussed what each of us wants to do and how he sees our future project. There were a lot of ideas. Everything was recorded on a piece of paper, and the next day was reread. More than half was deleted. Several meetings we simply played various popular toys on mobile platforms (iOS, Android, WP) and noted those moments that we liked very much and not so much.
How we came up with a game that we ourselves would like to play
Most of all, we were bothered by the fact that many mobile games in one project offer only one set of gameplay (for example, you have to decide the whole game with what force and trajectory the bird will fly or where you need to cut the rope). As you progress through the game becomes more difficult, but each next level is terribly similar to all previous ones, and you already know what awaits you at the end. And you are not very interested in playing the game to the end - because you already understand that in the end there will be no surprise or unexpected turn in the plot.
This is not bad, but we decided that we want to go the other way - and try in our game each new level to surprise the player, letting him try a new game mechanic or send him to a completely unique unique location. The inspiration and standards of various genres for us were the following games - Fruit Ninja, Joypack Joiride, 4 Elements, Temple Run and Path of Kara.
We wanted to take the best of these games, add something unique and mix the whole thing in one project. So we suddenly had the idea to make an adventure game about the Witch. It seemed to us that this campaign is ideal for implementing our wildest ideas.
Lloyin appeared very quickly to the game (a sentence that should consist of 25 or fewer words capable of conveying the essence of the story without further details):
In search of a new home, one kind Witch, who is often haunted by failures on the path to mastering witchcraft, opens her own shop of magical goods and services, with the belief that this will bring her wealth and a good reputation.
We decided that in the game it is necessary to make two modes:
We wanted our project to be equally liked by people who appreciate a good story component in the game, and people who like to play arcades and appreciate the gameplay itself.
At first it was necessary to invent a story mode, and we began to fantasize how an ordinary day of an ordinary witch might look and realized that in the magical kingdom a huge number of various events could happen to a witch that would be interesting to play. If a witch cooks potions and creates magic, then it is logical to divide the game into episodes about different types of potions and spells with different effects. This is how a single episode pattern looked like:
We hoped that such a variety of game mechanics in one project would perfectly support the plot of the game and the game would be a breeze and create the feeling that you were playing an interactive fairy tale.
Arcade mode
The basic idea is that after passing through each story episode, the player opens one of the modes. In these modes, you can try your hand at passing mini-games and puzzles from the story campaign for speed and reaction. We managed to implement 4 such arcades : Magic Signs, Puzzles, the Slaughterhouse and the Wonderful Marathon.
Both game modes were fully developed and included in the final version. We were able to implement most of our ideas, although some ideas had to be abandoned due to the fact that the development already took twice as long as planned. In the course of working on the game, our team filled many different cones, but it was an invaluable experience that we already use today when developing the continuation of the game.
Now we are at the stage of Soft Launch - the game is available only in Russian and for one platform, but we are actively developing the project, we are engaged in porting to various platforms and translating into other languages. Reviews about the game inspire and make it even more fanatical to work through the levels, think through the game design, the plot, improve the graphics, add pleasant trifles and humor, in general, improve our game.
I got the idea to create my own game a year ago, after I was lucky enough to attend the international final of the Imagine Cup 2012 competition, and I learned that in 2013, the category “Games” appeared in the nominations of this competition.
Since this was the very beginning of the project, it was important for me to understand my strengths, weaknesses and find out what competencies are not enough and who should be called to the team. For myself, I highlighted 5 points that should be in a good game:
- Beautiful graphics - that is, at least one of the team members must be a good artist. I'm not an artist.
- A fascinating story - this can be discussed collectively, a “common outline” is chosen, and only then are the details added in the process.
- Addictive gameplay - in fact, this is the game itself - the software that runs, runs and lives its own life. This is a task for the game designer and programmer.
- Clear interface and control is the task of the designer and programmer.
- Atmospheric music and sound - writing music can be given to the "outsource".
I already had a good experience in interface design, animation, and in the future project I wanted to be realized as a game designer. Those. I had to find a programmer and artist.
')
At the start of the project, you need to call universal people, people who can combine a lot of roles. And important are people who are ready to take on new tasks and are not afraid of uncertainty. The team must be:
- Friendly
- Ambitious
- Capable of allocating 200% of the time for a project
- Have a flexible mindset
- Motivated
"How to motivate team members?" - They do not need to motivate. If the project is sound, everything is clearly positioned, then the people themselves should be motivated by these things. If a person quickly loses interest, and every time you need to make efforts to re-include it in the process, then this is not the right person for a startup. A man without intrinsic motivation is bad for the team.
The first to join me in the idea of ​​taking part in the Imagine Cup and create my own project was my dorm roommate. He wanted to take on tasks related to architecture, development and programming. The artist in our team was my friend from the university who was fond of drawing and sometimes published his sketches on his VK page.
Probably, as in any startup, we held our first meetings in cozy cafes of our city, Perm, where we invented the concept of our future project. At first we just got together and discussed what each of us wants to do and how he sees our future project. There were a lot of ideas. Everything was recorded on a piece of paper, and the next day was reread. More than half was deleted. Several meetings we simply played various popular toys on mobile platforms (iOS, Android, WP) and noted those moments that we liked very much and not so much.
How we came up with a game that we ourselves would like to play
Most of all, we were bothered by the fact that many mobile games in one project offer only one set of gameplay (for example, you have to decide the whole game with what force and trajectory the bird will fly or where you need to cut the rope). As you progress through the game becomes more difficult, but each next level is terribly similar to all previous ones, and you already know what awaits you at the end. And you are not very interested in playing the game to the end - because you already understand that in the end there will be no surprise or unexpected turn in the plot.
This is not bad, but we decided that we want to go the other way - and try in our game each new level to surprise the player, letting him try a new game mechanic or send him to a completely unique unique location. The inspiration and standards of various genres for us were the following games - Fruit Ninja, Joypack Joiride, 4 Elements, Temple Run and Path of Kara.
We wanted to take the best of these games, add something unique and mix the whole thing in one project. So we suddenly had the idea to make an adventure game about the Witch. It seemed to us that this campaign is ideal for implementing our wildest ideas.
Lloyin appeared very quickly to the game (a sentence that should consist of 25 or fewer words capable of conveying the essence of the story without further details):
In search of a new home, one kind Witch, who is often haunted by failures on the path to mastering witchcraft, opens her own shop of magical goods and services, with the belief that this will bring her wealth and a good reputation.
We decided that in the game it is necessary to make two modes:
- A story mode in which you will need to help the Witch create potions and spells in order to help the villagers solve their unusual problems.
- Arcade mode in which you can try your hand at passing mini-games and puzzles from the story campaign for speed and reaction.
We wanted our project to be equally liked by people who appreciate a good story component in the game, and people who like to play arcades and appreciate the gameplay itself.
At first it was necessary to invent a story mode, and we began to fantasize how an ordinary day of an ordinary witch might look and realized that in the magical kingdom a huge number of various events could happen to a witch that would be interesting to play. If a witch cooks potions and creates magic, then it is logical to divide the game into episodes about different types of potions and spells with different effects. This is how a single episode pattern looked like:
 Search for ingredients - For any spell or potion, the player will have to look for ingredients in unusual places. We are looking for, collect, combine, use the items found for the production of the following.In each new episode, the witch comes to a completely new, unfamiliar location. This genre of games is called Object Search. Closest analogues: Mystery Manor, Mysteryvile 2 |
 The Slaughterhouse - The main ingredient of any potion is the Mega-Boss, which appears only in emergency situations, for example, the mass death of his relatives.Here the player needs to crush various insects in order to fill the Mega-Boss rage scale and thus challenge him to a duel. Using various combinations, you can speed up the process of accumulating rage. Closest analogues: Fruit Ninja, Fast Knife |
 The boss battle , the magical Mega-Boss, is the main ingredient for the potion. At this level, the witch tries to freeze him with her spells, while she needs to avoid his bites. The player must hold the phone screen up and tilt it in the direction he wants to run.Another player needs to click in the place of the screen where he wants to shoot from the staff. And sometimes 8 random spells appear on the field, and Rudgrid can collect them in order to gain an advantage in this battle. |
 Puzzles - in some places of the plot the player will have to “clean up” and “put everything in its place”, for example, extracts from the Witch's house. To do this, puzzles of varying difficulty are introduced into our game, very similar to the tag.The goal is to arrange the blocks in the correct order to get the right picture. Closest analogues: Fifteen, Puzzle Touch |
 Potions preparation is our unique gameplay element, where the player mixes the found ingredients and colored extracts in the cauldron in the sequence indicated in the recipe. Draw magic signs and cast magic spells to fix the desired effect.We also implemented a mode where the user needs to voice a magic spell in the phone, and if he spells the spell correctly and the phone understands him - the game went on. Unfortunately, due to technical limitations, we decided to cut out this mode for now - because For voice recognition, we need the Internet and the correct settings in the phone (voice control must be enabled and language packs downloaded). |
 Flying on a broomstick - Our witch is still learning, so sometimes her potions have unexpected consequences =)We go around obstacles, collect coins, use them to activate extremely useful spells (acceleration, invulnerability, super-stupa). Using the accelerometer, tilting the phone left and right, the player can accelerate and slow down in order to avoid obstacles. Closest analogues: Temple Run, Jetpack Joyride |
Arcade mode
The basic idea is that after passing through each story episode, the player opens one of the modes. In these modes, you can try your hand at passing mini-games and puzzles from the story campaign for speed and reaction. We managed to implement 4 such arcades : Magic Signs, Puzzles, the Slaughterhouse and the Wonderful Marathon.
Both game modes were fully developed and included in the final version. We were able to implement most of our ideas, although some ideas had to be abandoned due to the fact that the development already took twice as long as planned. In the course of working on the game, our team filled many different cones, but it was an invaluable experience that we already use today when developing the continuation of the game.
Now we are at the stage of Soft Launch - the game is available only in Russian and for one platform, but we are actively developing the project, we are engaged in porting to various platforms and translating into other languages. Reviews about the game inspire and make it even more fanatical to work through the levels, think through the game design, the plot, improve the graphics, add pleasant trifles and humor, in general, improve our game.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/202676/
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