The sense of progress.

posted in: Flash | 2

Most of my dev time lately has been spent on Breach 3, which won’t be called Breach 3, but that’s still what it is, so whatever.  YFYIAR is pretty close to being done, and at this point I’m waiting on David to hammer down the music (which is approaching something awesome very quickly) and sound (which ought to add something nice to things).  Grief is briefly paused while I finish up these other projects.  Chris is still messing around with art styles in various mediums, so progress is being made there, it’s just not progress that I’m responsible for.

Anyway, Breach 3.  I haven’t said anything about it yet, other than tossing out a quick demo (which is updated now, by the way, so go play it).  The game is my attempt to maneuver around modern casual game design–Upgrades are very prominent, because they give you a very direct sense of progress.  It’s also very un-punishing:  When you successfully complete a round, you get a bonus.  When you fail, you aren’t penalized, but you just don’t get the bonus.  Even though it’s still obviously better to complete a round, losing doesn’t seem to be a bad thing.  Instead, it’s just not as good. The bonus is extra, so failing to get it isn’t bad.  It’s just not as good as it could have been.  It’s a euphemism for failure.

Also, something that I enjoy way more than I should:  When you complete a round or visit the upgrade shop, the titles of the screens are randomized.  You get a different “you win” or “you lose” message each time, and the upgrade shop has various titles.  It doesn’t add anything in the utilitarian sense, but it’s just some extra flavor.  We did this a bit in Spewer, too–When you completed a level, you were given a few statistics (steps taken, jumps, etc).  The last statistic was always a random statistic with a random value (for instance, “Laws broken: 6”).  I got a shitload of chuckle-worthy emails asking about some of those.

Oh, and one of the titles for the upgrade shop is “Happy Item Room.”  If you understand this reference, then you are a superhero and I’m sending the president to your house to give you a handshake and a beer.

2 Responses

  1. Gunstar Heroes, dice palace?

  2. Word. Stay hip.

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