I'd like to share some details about one of the mini-games included in Knights of Frontier Valley. The purpose of mini-games is to break up gameplay and add a bit of action that also requires the player's skill rather than just the character's.
One quite common mini-game in RPGs is lockpicking. In many games I've seen this is often done in a very simple way, and sometimes a bit dull. Wizardry 8, while being a great game, just requires the player to repeatedly click on the lock's tumblers... no player skill needed unless "Patience" is a skill. Skyrim also does it very simple... a minimal amount of attention is required to crack locks there, but it's more of a try-and-error exercise. I have no insight into the design decisions of those games, but could imagine that lockpicking is implemented in such a simple way to avoid it becoming overwhelming, as there are many locks to pick.
There are counter-examples. In classic title Hillsfar for example, lock-picking turns into a puzzler where the player needs to match the shape of the pick to the tumbler alignment while under time pressure. I kind of liked that one.
For Knights of Frontier Valley I wanted to do something new and came up with a timed challenge. The player first needs to explore the innards of a lock, and then push all tumblers into place while avoiding trap triggers. Locks in old ruins or on chests that have been buried in the ground can contain dirt which might need to be removed to get to the tumblers.
I hope you enjoy the video - comments welcome!
The game: Indiedb.com