Hello Everyone,
It’s been a while since we last shared an update on our game. It’s time to fix that!
In our previous update, we discussed environmental concepts, as well as characters and some of their abilities. Today, we’ll delve into the core gameplay mechanics on a broader scale. We’ll even share insights into the gameplay loop, goals, challenges, and rewards!
Where were we?
In line with our Bottom-Up approach, we continued our development by revisiting the character abilities we had implemented.
We expanded upon the character’s movement system, introducing dash, double jump, sprint, and a surfing system to complement their existing powers.
It was crucial for us to experiment in order to ensure an enjoyable experience when controlling our characters. – a challenge we successfully overcame! Playing with these little avatars, running, and unleashing powers, was genuinely fun.
Challenges are a fundamental aspect of the gaming experience, so it didn’t make much sense to allow unlimited use of the character’s abilities. As the saying goes, “If you can run, why would you walk?”. This meant we needed to find a way to limit our character’s abilities.
Introducing energy limitation
We implemented an energy reserve system, where each use of a character’s special ability consumes a portion of their energy reserve.
While this added depth to the gameplay, we had to address the need for energy recharges. We wanted to maintain sufficient flow and engagement for the player despite this constraint.
We embraced a simple yet effective solution: dispersing energy as collectibles in various forms throughout the level.
- Scattered energy containers let characters replenish a single dose of energy.
- Concentrated energy zones allow a substantial recharge by activating multiple sources.
- Automatic energy recovery zones automatically restore players to full energy without any additional effort.
Next, we then immersed ourselves in some level design, explored new gameplay elements and refined the overall rules of our game.
Rifts, antennas, and energy or Why meaningful goals matter
As you will see, this new energy reserve system greatly inspired the rules of our imaginary world. Last time, we only provided a brief overview of the context of our game.
“Inter-dimensional rifts have opened in the universe, causing instabilities. You play as agents of RFCorp. Your mission is to explore these rifts and deploy devices to close them and restore balance to the universe.”
So, perhaps it’s time to share more! Let’s talk about the player goals.
Primary Objectives
The main goal for players is to seal the rifts between two worlds as soon as they appear. These rifts are geographical anomalies connecting two dimensions. They unleash a significant surge of energy when they appear. Given their extremely unstable nature, keeping the rifts open for too long is dangerous.
To counter this, players can deploy devices, known as antennas, at specific locations within the level to stabilize the rift’s energy within that area. Once enough antennas are channeling this energy, the rifts can be successfully closed.
Secondary Objectives
On their way to the antennas, players may encounter moderately important energy nodes. There, they can set up relays or simply collect energy crystals for personal recharge. They may also manually repair specific rift fragments.
New props
We now have tangible and achievable goals. It’s time to explore these new gameplay elements. While they are still in their preliminary stages, these early visual concepts serve as valuable anchors for our universe.
Let’s take a look !
Antennas
We know that the agents’ primary goal is to close rifts before they pose a threat, by using antennas at pivotal energy nodes.
Beyond their overarching role in completing the level, antennas serve additional functions. They automatically redistribute energy to players. More importantly, they can connect with each other, regardless of distance! Players can easily and swiftly surf from one antenna to another, moving between zones and saving a considerable amount of time.
Dev’Tip : Rewards
Let’s introduce this new feature! The “dev”Tips” are informative boxes that allow us to delve a bit deeper into our explanations. Feel free to skip them; you won’t miss out.
In our quest to create rich gameplay experiences with a concise sets of assets, we’ve combined multiple interactions and rewards into a few gameplay elements. This means antennas serve multiple roles and offer players different rewards.:
- Reward of glory – completion : Antennas mark the zone as complete for the player.
- Reward of sustenance – resource : They stabilize energy and automatically distribute it to nearby players.
- Reward of facility – displacement : Interconnected antennas allow players to surf seamlessly between them. When we introduced the surfing mechanic, it was incredibly fun to use. However, it made any other means of transportation obsolete. On the other hand, making it the sole mode of movement would have made it less special. To strike the right balance, we reintroduced this mechanic as a rewarding feature at the end of a zone.
- Checkpoint : Finally, they serve as save points and as rest areas for players
Relays
Reaching an antenna is difficult. Our protagonists face a long and sometimes perilous journey. To aid them in their tasks, secondary objectives are found along the way.
Smaller energy nodes allow for the placement of relays.
Relays, apart from serving as checkpoints and rest areas, possess the ability to locally stabilize and distribute energy to players within their force field. Though less powerfull, they can establish connections with other nearby relays, allowing players to quickly surf across short distances.
Like antennas, relays offer specific rewards to players:
- Reward of glory – completion : Players progress through the zone, experiencing a sense of advancement.
- Reward of sustenance – resource : The relays automatically redistribute energy to nearby players within their force field.
- Reward of facility – displacement : They can connect with other nearby relays, allowing players to surf between them.
Crystals
Smaller clusters are scattered more sporadically throughout each rift. They prove useful for guiding players along the right paths and preventing them from getting lost in the rift.
Additionally, they let players recharge part of their energy.
Lastly, the role of crystals aligns with the need for:
- Reward of sustenance – resource : The crystals allow players to recharge some of their energy.
And now
The energy system we introduced to address gameplay and challenge concerns turned out to be pivotal in shaping our game on a broader scale. We expanded our gameplay mechanics by incorporating specific rules and the quintessential elements that define a game: goals and challenges. What began as an enjoyable toy has now evolved into the early foundations of a comprehensive gaming system.
We’re thrilled to have evolved our gameplay by introducing a central narrative featuring various primary and secondary objectives.
After all, our goal is to provide you with a rewarding and enjoyable experience, and this motivation fuels our efforts. With these recent developments, we are eager to pursue our efforts.
What’s next ?
The next steps involve building levels around these new game mechanics and objectives, and evaluating how players will tackle the challenges that lie ahead.
We will also work on implementing these concepts within the rifts, tackling their appearance and their composition. In an upcoming devblog, we’ll probably share our progress, so, get ready for a more visual devblog!
Until then, thank you once again for your unwavering support!
See you soon
N.B. All images are for illustration purposes only. They do not reflect the game’s final visuals or gameplay.