Stargazer Developer Diary 11
8/1/10It has been a while since the last update, in that time I finished off the features and added some polish for the competition submissions. Now all the results have come back. Results The first competition was the Indepedent games section of the GCAP conference in Melbourne. Stargazer did not make the finals of that competition and the only feedback received was that there were some good ideas and to keep working on it. The other competition entered was the IGF 2010 games festival. Again I did not make the finals but I did get some good feedback and ideas.
Next Steps
I believe the game needs a redesign in line with some of the comments I have received. Tweaks to the audio and presentation are simple enough (although my lack of artistic talents will be a factor for interface improvements) but the main thing to address is that I need a gameplay mechanic that does not rely on memorisation. Playing Stargazer more doesn't make you that much better at it, you just know the puzzles better. So far it seems like the creation aspect of the game is the strongest, so perhaps tying it into that more will be a good thing. I need to come up with some ideas on where to go from here. It is important to make these changes before I try and port the game to another platform.
IGF Judge Feedback
Below I'm pasting the comments I received so you can read through them.
Stargazer scored best in: Audio And scored worst in: Technical --- The mood is right, but I couldn't help to feel annoyed by having to go back time and time again to the hint screen for challenges. Aside from sheer memory, there is no other way to be good at this game. I think you should have a more directive approach to the puzzle solving in the challenge mode, maybe offering or hinting some possible choices (instead of all of them) and letting the player choose from those. Also, I think it would be less frustrating for the player if he was told immediatly that the connection he made was incorrect. --- Stargazer is an interesting premise and is a fun toy, but certainly needs a lot of work and polish before it could become a game. DESIGN
+You've touched upon a fun premise here - people love constellations, but unfortunately how many people can actually name any? I would say I can only name 2 at best. ART
-Art is very bland AUDIO
+Music and chiming fits very well to the soothing nature of the game TECHNICAL
-Feels like this could have been done faster in Flash. OVERALL I would really challenge you to rethink this game - again there is an interesting opportunity here, but Stargazer requires a lot more testing and polishing before it can become anything like a "real" game. Good luck! --- The free mode is more enjoyable then the puzzle memory game. Could become something much bigger if the gameplay was worked into something more original. --- This is a pretty neat game, but I don't see it as a finalist. It's easy to pick up and start right away but after completing a few constellations I felt like I had experienced it all. Looking at a target image and then trying to recreate it through a set of predetermined points just isn't very fun, at least to me it wasn't. If this was my game I'd take a radically different approach for the actual gameplay. Maybe you can always see the target image (hint) but somehow you can't make some of the connections; a web of lines that you have to untangle. --- This was an enjoyably relaxing game, but after a while it started to get very monotonous. It's sort of a more minimal/sparse version of "spot the difference", or memorization+connect-the-dots.. however there's not really any problem-solving or "puzzling" in the traditional sense, simply memorization, which isn't really all that fun! There are also some usability problems: the game won't undo the first click (i.e the starting star can't be changed without exiting from the level and starting again). This was somewhat annoying. The sound is quite pleasant though, it really fit well. Overall the central concept is a bit barren, and the game doesn't really go anywhere. --- The Good: Clean concept, as simple as it needs to be, easy to understand. At first I thought this would not be fun but it quickly struck a nerve in my gamer psyche when I realized I had to figure out the pattern by a certain time limit to earn an achievement. Pleasing musical tones when you create lines. Interesting time mechanic, although it would be good if while I was looking at the star field I had some idea of how much time had passed and how good it was relatively (e.g. I just passed the silver star time cut off, etc.). There is maybe some educational value if you want to learn constellation patterns, certainly reinforces those points well ( I don't know how accurate the star fields are though). Simple to use custom mode, cool feature, I could play this with my kids for hours probably. With a little more polish this would make a great casual game. With a lot of polish, this mechanic could turn into a full blown game, I can almost imagine the story of the hero, a character named Zodi who gains powers from the constellations? (this comment really just shows that surprisingly, this simple game inspires) Random shooting star and moon make nice touches. The Bad: Interface art a little crude. I think it was designed to match the game mechanics but feels like it could use some polish, maybe some motion or glow fx. A geometry wars type of soft glow fx could work (much more subtle of course). Sound fx strikingly odd at times, tonally doesn't support positive and negative feedback very well. As a power gamer, I found myself wanting a quick way to reset a challenge as soon as I realized I had screwed up my chances of getting a good time. Having to undo all the way back is a pain. Could make better use of mouse control to accomplish "undo" to keep it more playful, instead of having a GUI button; I lose precious seconds moving the mouse around. (e.g. drag a line to break it's connection and throw it away, or right mouse click, or… etc.) The Ugly: Very odd sound effects on the celebration of finishing a pattern, worked against celebrating that the player completed a challenge.
Might be cool if (just ideas): --- While Stargazer could be used as a tool to teach constellations or test cognitive memory, it feels like it needs more to be a successful gameplay experience. The concept and basic mechanics are super-easy to grasp and jump into. These are positives. But once Stargazer has flashed you the constellation card and turned the starfield over to you, it almost feels like it runs outside to grab a smoke. 'Uh, call me if you need me.' Increasing the incidence of interaction, and adding a juiced-up reward system would encourage the player and present more incentive to carry through. It might help if the game encouraged correct moves When mistakes are made, the 'Undo' mechanism could be a little friendlier, too, and allow the player to erase or start from where the mistake was made, instead of backtracking sequentially through a sometimes substantial number of lines. More visual 'wow' and effects wouldn't hurt, either. As another upside, the music is fitting to the theme and appealing. |