« December 2005 | Main | February 2006 »
January 26, 2006
Escape to Obion: The Hidden Map
One week later, here is the sequel to 'Obion', with about 5 times the number of puzzles and interactivity as the previous one.
As in the first game, one of the guiding principles was to have the puzzles be unique and challenging, but also to have them be solvable through 'brute-force' clicking around just in case they're too tough for any particular player (although for some of the puzzles that could take hours).
One of the other principles is that the narrative should never move backward (as in a failure to complete a particular puzzle having the result of forcing the player to a previous game-state). This only frustrates gameplay by forcing the player to do a lot of mindless and repetitive clicking to get back to where they were before.
Another has to do with perspective - the player can never turn around, and when it's necessary to back up, that's done with the down arrow that is in the same place on every screen. The motivation is to make navigation simple and never let it interfere with the gameplay.
A fourth has to do with the style of interaction. We decided to make this a 'click-only' game with no inventory and no dragging of items; the only exception are a couple of places where typing in of passwords is necessary. One of the essential aspects of casual games is that they need to be immediately accessable; that is, they cannot require any learning by the player before beginning - no instructions, no special key commands, etc. Those things are not bad in themselves, but games that require the user to learn how to play are not casual games.
The game style is also limited to non-time-based interaction, which is typical of the point-and-click adventure genre. It can be frustrating to users to suddenly come across an arcade-style puzzle in the middle of an otherwise action-free game.
Lastly, we wanted this game to be as language-neutral as possible. The Internet audience is multilingual, and creating content in only one language effectively shuts out potential users/viewers. This game has English-language preface and conclusion text, but neither is necessary to play and enjoy the game. Some of the puzzles do use English words, but in those cases, knowledge of the meanings of the words is not necessary. The semantics are irrelevant and the words are used only as sequences of symbols.
Note to everyone who completes this game (or who try and then give up). This is a new series, and future episodes will be designed based on comments on earlier episodes. So, please feel free to say what you liked or didn't like in the game - what you found too easy, or what you thought was too frustrating or complicated.
Posted by mslaybau at 06:18 AM | Comments (45)
January 24, 2006
Top 17 Country & Western Songs
This was in my inbox:
Top 17 Country & Western Songs
17. I Hate Every Bone In Her Body But Mine
16. It's Hard To Kiss The Lips At Night That Chewed Your Ass Out All Day Long
15. If I Can't Be Number One In Your Life, Then Number Two On You
14. If The Phone Don't Ring, You'll Know It's Me
13. How Can I Miss You If You Won't Go Away?
12. I Liked You Better Before I Got To Know You So Well
11. I Still Miss You Baby, But My Aim's Getting Better
10. I Wouldn't Take Her To A Dogfight 'Cause I'm Afraid She'd Win
9. I'll Marry You Tomorrow But Let's Honeymoon Tonight
8. I'm So Miserable Without You It's Like You're Still Here
7. If I Had Shot You When I First Wanted To, I'd Be Out Of Prison By Now
6. My wife Ran Off With My Best Friend And I Sure Do Miss Him
5. She Got The Ring and I Got The Finger
4. You're The Reason Our Kids Are So Ugly
3. Her Teeth Was Stained But Her Heart Was Pure
2. She's Looking Better After Every Beer
And the Number One song is . . .
1. I Ain't Never Gone To Bed With an Ugly Woman, But I've Sure Woke Up With A Few
Posted by mslaybau at 08:37 PM | Comments (1)
January 20, 2006
Escape to Obion: Fire and Ice
Episode 1: Fire and Ice
The first point-and-click adventure we've done, which is a surprise now since it's so much easier to code than other sorts of games.
The challenge for the designer in this genre is in creating puzzles that are tough but not impossible. I think casual games players are a little more likely to get exasperated than they would be with a console or PC game.
Note to everyone who completes this game (or who try and then give up). This is a new series, and future episodes will be designed based on comments on earlier episodes. So, please feel free to say what you liked or didn't like in the game - what you found too easy, or what you thought was too frustrating or complicated.
Posted by mslaybau at 01:02 AM | Comments (102)