Insanity’s Experience

One of the things that I was thinking about when i was working on my game is its experience. Any good game, in my opinion has to make the player feel something. Some games make their players feel powerful, smart, afraid, sad or even angry! I remember playing a game called I AM BREAD… Oh, that game made me want to find the developer that made it and just punch him/her in the face! But that what makes a game good, in my opinion; even if not a lot of people like it.

So, what do I want the player to feel when playing Insanity? I want the game to be challenging, fun and at the same time to make the player feel unstoppable. Now, the important question is: how can I convey this feeling to the player? The first thing that I thought of was the Music. Music can set the mood for any game. It can turn a glorious winning scene into the saddest scene you have even seen. For now, I am using the Mjolnir mix track for Halo 2; it is fast, using high keys and the progression of the music makes you feel that you just want to keep going forward. Now, I cannot just use that track in the game I am planning to release, but this track helped me in knowing what kind of music I want to include in my game. I want the music to be badass!

What else can I do to enhance the experience of my game? The Controls? Of course… the simpler and more efficient and responsive the controls are to the player, the smoother the game is, and the player will focus more on the game rather than having understand a complex controlling system (of course that case if for Mobile gaming). At first I was thinking of just using a joystick and put it on the left of the screen and the jump button would be on the right; something like Pubg’s controls. But I thought that this will be too complicated for my game; besides, the player will never have to do upwards or downwards in the game. So I decided to create the control system in buttons. A button that you press so the player moves forward and another for backward movement and a jump button. The movement buttons are close to each others to make movement for the player easy. The jump button is located to the left as most players have a muscle memory of jumping using the right hand.

The plan for Insanity goes beyond music and controls, but also through game play. The player has to finish the whole game before he/she can unlock two additional modes for the game:

1. Time Trial: Where the player can select a level and do it within his/her time. The player can break his/her own record by playing the level again and finishing it in less time.
2. Insanity Mode: The ultimate mode of Insanity. This mode’s challenge is to finish the whole game in a single run. Which means that you have only one health point through out the game. If you die at any level, you restart the game from level 1.

I am thinking of incorporating the game with Google play games, and introduce trophy system to the game in order to make the game more rewarding to the player, but I need to think about it. Not sure if this will be available in version 1.0

For now, these are my thoughts when it comes to the Insanity Experience. I am sure, I will come up with more ideas along the way; after all, this is my first game ever. and I can’t wait to get it released!