Lately, I've been working on some fine tuning details in my game project (Grimorum).
This, led me to what I believe is an interesting question. How much are details important ? And, even more so, which details matter more ?
For instance, in this image, the player is collecting gems in my game. Before this post, that had no sound... Only an animation for the blue particle system that you can see in the image. It wasn't until my girlfriend stated about the fact that It didn't have any sound, that I decided to experiment with it.
Interestingly enought, it seems such simple things add to the experience.
One other thing that I tried adding was an animation with a ranking every time the player finishes a level. The animation itself - I believe - helps to bring a sense of achievement and a "small reward" for finishing a level.
In this other example, I created a particle system to simulate blood exploding from a fallen enemy. It just seems so much more rewarding to kill this bloody creature once it explodes in a pile of red liquid and spills itself around the player...
In a sense, each of these little details helps bringing the whole game into becoming a cohesive, interesting and fun experience. As each day passes, I am led to believe that the more interactive your digital world is, the more fun it tends to be... especially as it does not restrain the player and allows he or she to make interesting decisions.
In that same spirit, I also added animations for any items collected. To give that same sense of reward and achievement. Deep inside, that goes down to the very roots of our behavior... The need to pursue behavior that rewards us... that gives us something in return.
So, YES. The devil DOES lie in the detail. Details like these, especially when they help reward the player for, you know, playing your game... can be the difference between a good game and a bad game.
For a gameplay video of my game, go to :
