September 22, 2015 at 13:09How I got the first experience of game design and game creation
I want to share with you my experience in creating the first game.
It so happened that I always wanted to make games, but for a long time I could not choose an idea and start creating. And after gaining some experience using the Unity engine, I decided that it was time to start my own game. I wanted something simple in terms of development, but interesting in terms of gameplay. And even then, the idea of Layer Switch began to emerge in my head.
Initially, an idea with looped levels in the form of rings was born in my head. These levels would change after reaching a goal. But after that I decided to expand this idea by adding the same rings to different layers.
I wanted to see how it would look and started drawing at an approximate level.
And when creating this sketch, it became clear that creating levels would not be so easy, you have to consider how the player will switch layers, as well as collect levels so that the player can not cheat by switching directly to the desired layers and finish the game, that's all layers should be used to the maximum.
I was unlimited in time, but still I wanted to finish the game in a maximum of 2 months, get the necessary experience and start creating the next game. As a result, it took about that much time, even a little less. Coming after work, I could devote the whole evening to creating the game.
After creating the first draft, not a little time passed and only a few weeks later, when there was free time, I started to develop. The latest version of Unity was already installed on the computer, and since I already had experience working with this engine, there were no particular difficulties, and in case of problems, the documentation always helped me out.
Layer switching was implemented, oddly enough, through standard Unity layers, and all animations, except sprite ones, were done through DOTween.
And since this was my first project, I decided to implement Google Play Games to maintain progress and achievements in order to gain experience with this service.
Having created a small prototype with several levels, I started testing it, and also asked to try to play some of my friends in it, as I decided that I could not critically evaluate my idea.
The reviews were very mixed, some thought the game was too complicated and impossible, while others said that it was difficult, but at an acceptable level.
After analyzing the reviews, I realized that you can’t increase the difficulty level, who wants to constantly lose? Therefore, before the levels with three layers, I decided to make the levels simpler, where there are only two layers at the level.
Level with two layers
I also tried to make the first levels simple, and gradually increasing the complexity, I wanted to accustom the player to the bacchanalia happening on the screen.
Initially, in my game the goal was to collect an object that is in the center of the ring, and after that the level was pumped, but the first problem arose immediately, everyone would like to cheat and not pass the level, as I had planned. There was a desire to slip between layers, or simply jump to the center and quickly change the layer to achieve the goal.
And then I decided to divide the assembled object into 4 parts. Now the player must visit all layers to complete the game, if you place the collected objects correctly.
Probably the most difficult thing that was in this project, the problem was that I myself locked myself in the ring, and basically the level could not be more than 360 degrees. To avoid this, you would have to do dynamic levels, but this would increase the complexity of the game, since you cannot know in advance what will appear on this or that layer. And I would like to keep the complexity at an acceptable level.
And maybe if I spent even more time, I would find the correct implementation of this idea, but already in the later stages I wanted to finish the game and start a new project.
I also wanted the levels to be “felt” differently and not to have the thought “Is this the same level?”. Therefore, more time was devoted to creating levels.
I decided to use the graphics as abstract, since I am an artist from the word bad. Initially, I planned to use the flat design color palette. But after a long selection of colors, I decided that everything should be simpler and the number of colors should be minimized. And again, since I am not a designer, it took me a lot of time to choose the right color palette.
But in the end, I'm somewhat satisfied with the final version.
Final option
Since I’m certainly not a musician, and I didn’t even have money to buy music, a lot of time was spent searching for the necessary music. As a result, I settled on the Jamendo resource, where I found a suitable track with Creative commons attribution 3.0 (CC-BY 3.0) license, where to use the material you need to specify the author.
To create sounds for the game, I gutted the soundtrack I downloaded and after some operations on the track I achieved the desired result.
For monetization, I used appodeal, showing rarely full-screen banners, also in the settings there is an option to turn off ads for a small fee.
Monetization in this project is more for the sake of a tick than for profit, since I was aiming to gain experience with the necessary tools.
Since I did all this alone and scrapped money only on my Google Play account, the promotion was limited to uploading information about my game to various resources. And in the end, everything rests on Avos.
Although I recently posted the game, I can draw several conclusions.
Making a game without a budget is difficult, even though I managed half of the problems myself, but with at least minimal sponsorship I would finish faster and better. However, having made this game, I got experience that will be useful to me in the future, and also finally took up what I had wanted for a long time.
UPD 1 I posted a short video with gameplay.
UPD 2 That's what happened after a month. The
number of installations was about 3 thousand, and almost stopped growing.
Total number of installations
My attempts to share the game on various resources did not pass without a trace. As soon as my game was published somewhere, a decent growth of installations was noticed.
The number of installations per day The
number of active users is gradually decreasing and about 1000 devices fluctuate.
Active users
Also monetization was not successful. The maximum number of ad views per day reached 330, from which it follows that there is no profit.
As a result, the game turned out to be too complicated, and if people started my game, they turned it off about the 6th level and did not start it anymore, and those who passed this threshold finished the game.
Although the game received mostly positive ratings, it might have been worth spending a little more time on additional levels and polishing the game and putting the game out only in a paid version, at least to recoup the account on Google Play, but I'm not sure that I would be able to get the right amount installations due to the lack of normal promotion.
In addition, my game was clearly not massive, but for fans of some difficulty in games. I think because of this and not long duration, she did not “take off”.
Background
It so happened that I always wanted to make games, but for a long time I could not choose an idea and start creating. And after gaining some experience using the Unity engine, I decided that it was time to start my own game. I wanted something simple in terms of development, but interesting in terms of gameplay. And even then, the idea of Layer Switch began to emerge in my head.
Idea
Initially, an idea with looped levels in the form of rings was born in my head. These levels would change after reaching a goal. But after that I decided to expand this idea by adding the same rings to different layers.
I wanted to see how it would look and started drawing at an approximate level.
Attention very poor quality photo and picture!
First draft
First draft
And when creating this sketch, it became clear that creating levels would not be so easy, you have to consider how the player will switch layers, as well as collect levels so that the player can not cheat by switching directly to the desired layers and finish the game, that's all layers should be used to the maximum.
The timing
I was unlimited in time, but still I wanted to finish the game in a maximum of 2 months, get the necessary experience and start creating the next game. As a result, it took about that much time, even a little less. Coming after work, I could devote the whole evening to creating the game.
Implementation
After creating the first draft, not a little time passed and only a few weeks later, when there was free time, I started to develop. The latest version of Unity was already installed on the computer, and since I already had experience working with this engine, there were no particular difficulties, and in case of problems, the documentation always helped me out.
Layer switching was implemented, oddly enough, through standard Unity layers, and all animations, except sprite ones, were done through DOTween.
And since this was my first project, I decided to implement Google Play Games to maintain progress and achievements in order to gain experience with this service.
Game design
Having created a small prototype with several levels, I started testing it, and also asked to try to play some of my friends in it, as I decided that I could not critically evaluate my idea.
Early prototype
Complexity
The reviews were very mixed, some thought the game was too complicated and impossible, while others said that it was difficult, but at an acceptable level.
After analyzing the reviews, I realized that you can’t increase the difficulty level, who wants to constantly lose? Therefore, before the levels with three layers, I decided to make the levels simpler, where there are only two layers at the level.
Level with two layers
I also tried to make the first levels simple, and gradually increasing the complexity, I wanted to accustom the player to the bacchanalia happening on the screen.
Scam
Initially, in my game the goal was to collect an object that is in the center of the ring, and after that the level was pumped, but the first problem arose immediately, everyone would like to cheat and not pass the level, as I had planned. There was a desire to slip between layers, or simply jump to the center and quickly change the layer to achieve the goal.
And then I decided to divide the assembled object into 4 parts. Now the player must visit all layers to complete the game, if you place the collected objects correctly.
Level Design
Probably the most difficult thing that was in this project, the problem was that I myself locked myself in the ring, and basically the level could not be more than 360 degrees. To avoid this, you would have to do dynamic levels, but this would increase the complexity of the game, since you cannot know in advance what will appear on this or that layer. And I would like to keep the complexity at an acceptable level.
And maybe if I spent even more time, I would find the correct implementation of this idea, but already in the later stages I wanted to finish the game and start a new project.
I also wanted the levels to be “felt” differently and not to have the thought “Is this the same level?”. Therefore, more time was devoted to creating levels.
Graphics and Sounds
Graphics
I decided to use the graphics as abstract, since I am an artist from the word bad. Initially, I planned to use the flat design color palette. But after a long selection of colors, I decided that everything should be simpler and the number of colors should be minimized. And again, since I am not a designer, it took me a lot of time to choose the right color palette.
Color selection
But in the end, I'm somewhat satisfied with the final version.
Final option
Music and sounds
Since I’m certainly not a musician, and I didn’t even have money to buy music, a lot of time was spent searching for the necessary music. As a result, I settled on the Jamendo resource, where I found a suitable track with Creative commons attribution 3.0 (CC-BY 3.0) license, where to use the material you need to specify the author.
To create sounds for the game, I gutted the soundtrack I downloaded and after some operations on the track I achieved the desired result.
Monetization
For monetization, I used appodeal, showing rarely full-screen banners, also in the settings there is an option to turn off ads for a small fee.
Monetization in this project is more for the sake of a tick than for profit, since I was aiming to gain experience with the necessary tools.
Promotion
Since I did all this alone and scrapped money only on my Google Play account, the promotion was limited to uploading information about my game to various resources. And in the end, everything rests on Avos.
Total
Although I recently posted the game, I can draw several conclusions.
Making a game without a budget is difficult, even though I managed half of the problems myself, but with at least minimal sponsorship I would finish faster and better. However, having made this game, I got experience that will be useful to me in the future, and also finally took up what I had wanted for a long time.
UPD 1 I posted a short video with gameplay.
Gameplay
UPD 2 That's what happened after a month. The
number of installations was about 3 thousand, and almost stopped growing.
Total number of installations
My attempts to share the game on various resources did not pass without a trace. As soon as my game was published somewhere, a decent growth of installations was noticed.
The number of installations per day The
number of active users is gradually decreasing and about 1000 devices fluctuate.
Active users
Also monetization was not successful. The maximum number of ad views per day reached 330, from which it follows that there is no profit.
Total 2.0
As a result, the game turned out to be too complicated, and if people started my game, they turned it off about the 6th level and did not start it anymore, and those who passed this threshold finished the game.
Although the game received mostly positive ratings, it might have been worth spending a little more time on additional levels and polishing the game and putting the game out only in a paid version, at least to recoup the account on Google Play, but I'm not sure that I would be able to get the right amount installations due to the lack of normal promotion.
In addition, my game was clearly not massive, but for fans of some difficulty in games. I think because of this and not long duration, she did not “take off”.