Summer of Prototypes
Hello everybody! There’s like a hundred of you now, which is neat and a little intimidating. I’ll try and keep it interesting.
Oh, and I’m on bluesky now, if you’re into that.
The Summer of Prototypes
In between client work and general malaise this summer, I’ve been prototyping some ideas. It’s probably all in my head, but I feel like there’s a lot of pressure to make a new Big game like Mixolumia, and I think I need to fight that thought. So here are some ideas I’ve been toying with that may or may not become anything.
If you have anything to say about how much you love or hate these, please reply to this email! And if you think a friend would be interested, go ahead and forward it.
Project Codename: Hakblok
The thing about making a falling block arcade puzzler is that you get a lot of ideas about making another falling block arcade puzzler. The twist for this is that the blocks you drop come from a deck that you build over the course of a run, and your opponents can put adversarial blocks in there too!
My goal is to build longer, more varied play sessions with a sort of roguelike structure. The board is small and the basic interactions are simple, but mixing up block types, the environment, and the opponent’s abilities allows for some fun depth and player expression. Also, I wanted the blocks to be little guys, so the game is about hacker witches who put demons into computers. It’s goofy, but I think it’s more appealing than regular blocks!
I started out with a Pico-8 prototype to keep myself focused on making something quick and dirty. It’s kind of a fun challenge, like trying to play piano in a straitjacket. I am running up against Pico-8’s hard limit on complexity, though, so if I were to further explore this concept, I’d probably want to take the straitjacket off and move to a more flexible engine.
Domino Below
Domino Below is a game where you fill a Yacht dice scorecard by drawing lines through falling dominoes. Here’s a video of some prototype gameplay on Playdate.
I’ve got a few ideas on how to expand on this. One option is a deckbuilder in the same vein as Balatro, where you are increasingly improving your dominoes to reach ever higher scores and beat challenges of opponents. I made a mockup of special dominoes and board modifiers, just don’t ask me what they all do (heh).
Another part of me is thinking, what if I kept it simple? What if it was more like a board game? What if I made a collection of weird original board games like this instead?
I’m also not sure if it’s a great fit for Playdate. It’s a fun platform, but the audience is way more limited than if I developed it for desktop or web, and there’s not a lot of screen real estate for some of the complexities this project might need if I go the deckbuilder route. Let me know what you think!
RotoDefendo Sequel??
Some of you may remember my one-button jam game RotoDefendo. I always liked the concept, but the original doesn’t really scale well. The scoring isn’t very interesting, and there’s pretty much a hard ceiling on how far you can get before you’re overcome by enemies.
I started playing around with a version that has combos, a more interesting reloading mechanic, and a currency system to upgrade your cannon instead of random pickups. I think expanding on the gameplay with waves of enemies and bosses would really improve the experience, too.
Then, since I had Playdate on the brain anyway, I was thinking about how a game about a rotating cannon might work with the crank. In the original, the rotation was automatic and the player controlled when to shoot, but what if shooting was automatic and the player controlled the rotation instead?
I haven’t got any fancy video to show off yet, but I think this could be a fun, small arcade game to put together.
The Autumn of Actually Picking a Dang Project
Well, eventually I have to commit to making a game. Which of these are particularly exciting to you? What platform do you want games on? Please do reply to this email and let me know! Otherwise I will continue to languish in indecision!!
Dave