i made a quick 2hr clone of geometry wars 3 pacifist mode. i just wanted to get back into the swing of programming relatively finished games after spending a while making tech demos
heres the first version:
this version. sucked really bad. it was not fun.
but the hard part about judging the game idea from this prototype is that it seriously does implement every "core" feature of the game. it has enemies that spawn and chase you, it has gates that explode when you go through them. it is exactly what id consider to be a stripped-down-but-technically-identical version of Geometry Wars 3 Pacficist mode
if i were to make a prototype to show off my own game idea, id do the same thing - strip the game down to what i believe to be the "core", code those features, then see if its fun. ive done this with multiple games, and discarded a huge number of them because of this
"if the game's prototype isn't fun, the finished game wont be fun." — Gaming Yoda idk
but, i knew that the final polished version of geometry wars 3 was fun, so i had an absolute concrete example that this design can be made fun. something was missing from my design.
i added things seemed like small details on paper:
all of these things feel like small bits of "polish" to me. i imagined they'd be tiny little things that make the game feel a little bit better, but ultimately would be tweaks or minmaxing for a game that is already fun and has a solid core
but i implemented them, lets take a look now
the game was completely addictive. it still doesnt look like much, it's still a prototype, but this was far better. i wanted to add more polish but i couldnt stop playtesting, it really did become a game where you mashed replay as soon as you died
so what happened? i have no idea and i still dont sorry lol
i guess these are "design bugfixes" - like one line of code that crashes the game, tiny changes in the design can really change the entire experience
this left me with a good thing to practice; when prototyping, i should really trust the idea and give it a few takes; add one thing, take away another, shuffle the parameters around, add a timer, add points, pickups. if nothing you try works, it might be a dead end, but i realise getting something right on the first try is extremely unlikely
the best part is that once you've got the general shape down, these small tweaks are really fast to code. if you add, say, a timer, and it becomes more fun, then you're heading in the right direction, and you should keep going
the reason you started prototyping a game is probably because you came up with a game idea that you want to play. the fun will be buried in there somewhere
"a pirate doesn't dig one empty hole then declare the treasure was never real. if you believe in your map, you must keep digging" — Gaming Yoda again idk
raph koster goes on about this exact philosophy a lot, and im ashamed to have forgotten it.. im sorry raph..
good luck!