Here's a quick summary of some of the work we did this week.
Changes
- The biggest change we decided to make was to change the scoring system of the game to make it more like capture the flag. Instead of simply competing to see who can get to and capture the randomly spawning checkpoints, players must get to the checkpoint in order to pick up the flag, and then bring it back and jump through a flaming hoop in order to score.
- Control updates (A is gas, X is brake, Left/Right bumpers to select target, B to fire rocket).
- Tutorial revamp, also changes to match the new Capture The Flag functionality
- Updated and polished player respawn and resets when stuck
- Added shield power ups to block player rockets
- Player guidance updates including the checkpoint arrow
Purpose
- The major design change (CTF scoring) was made to try and increase player interactions. We (and play testers) found that the game was the most fun when players came in contact with each other and started interacting. We believed that we could make this more of a focus by shifting to a CTF style scoring, giving players more chances to attack each other. This was the source of multiple changes including shield power ups and rocket tweaks, all of which are meant to up player interaction.
- Because of increased player interaction there's also a higher chance for players to flip over or get stuck on in game objects. This means we wanted to make the player respawn and reset mechanics better.
- We continue to run into problems using the triggers and InControl, so we've made all controls buttons or bumpers.
- We felt that players were’t getting enough guidance so we put more work into the game’s tutorial.
Future plans
- Depending on how play testing goes, we plan to continue making changes to encourage and enable player interaction, since we believe that to be where the game shines the most.
- We have plans to revamp the “build phase” to try and make it more competitive and engaging, since players don’t seem very invested in that part of the game.
