Post by ddragon on Jul 24, 2008 6:35:50 GMT -5
I work in the gaming industry, and I too would like to express my enjoyment for AF. The concept of melding a simple game like Bejeweled with the persistent, incremental reward scheme of an MMO is both an insidiously brilliant and surprisingly untapped idea that I think holds a great amount of potential. Right now is a critical moment for your game -- you need to build on your concept and learn from your mistakes, or believe me someone else will.
I'm certainly no expert on puzzle games, but I have worked with both MMOs and casual games, and believe I can offer some suggestions that I hope you find helpful.
The core puzzle game is great and addictive, and the tilt feature gives AF just that little twist every new IP needs to succeed. I realize that the MMO features are still a little undercooked as of the 1.0 release, but you need to strive to offer the player incremental rewards for their efforts. As I said, when the Power Ups and upgrades are more fully implemented this may be more apparent, but the rewards also need to feel meaningful to the player, to make a tangible difference when they play again. The task for you as the designer will be to create them in sufficient quantity, but without losing sight of the core gameplay as they begin to pile on.
Another area worth mentioning is character progression. Customization is great, but on a limited budget much can be forgiven. I'm talking about the actual means by which players advance and the perceived meaningfulness of the choices as they go. I think between the Mine, Store, Tower and Smith, you have plenty to expand on, but players need to be given major forks in the road and let them take the path they choose. With the exception of the Spellbook, it seemed as I gained levels that I only had one or two upgrade options in the main customization section. Other than perhaps a minimum level to progress further on a path, players should be given as many choices as possible... "Do I put a point in Alchemy, a point in Strategy, and a point in Sorcery, or do I put them all in Strategy?" And what does it give me if I choose one or the other?
Levelling shouldn't be tied to blueprints or other purchases, but it should take more and more mining to get to the next place (and this is where Power Ups and upgrades can come in handy). If you absolutely must tie them, be sure it's made crystal clear to the player what they need in order to advance!
Other tiny things... players should probably be able to see their accumulated crystal total without exiting the mine and entering another screen. Also, while the category/level structure may be an interesting way to divide the progression, it can be a bit confusing unless explained. May I recommend a Help section?
Finally, in regards to the community sharing issue that has stirred so much controversy, I agree with much of what has been said. If it is faster (and it usually is) to simply drop the feature entirely and revisit it a bit later, then do so. Your game is only going anywhere if it is available, people are playing, and you are working to update it. The faster you get out of damage control and back into improving the core game, the better for you and your player base.
When/if you do finally decide to return to the feature, might I suggest a modified Facebook-style, player-initiated method? If a player goes to the community section, present them with the option of Adding a Friend. If they select it, let them add a phone number or email address manually, or have the option to browse their contact list for convenience. No uploads, no security concerns. I'm not intimately familiar with the Apple SDK, but assuming they select the number of a friend with an iPhone, the request could then query AF's internal player database (which obviously it must have in order to store character data). If the number already exists, i.e. the person already has AF, it could send a message to the person associated with the AF program, essentially an "X wants to add you to his friend's list. Allow?" If the number does not show up, it sends the person a text message invite to join the game ("X wants to invite you to join him in AF."). Maybe even a link into the App Store? I don't know!
Best of luck, and I'm looking forward to seeing where Aurora Feint progresses.
I'm certainly no expert on puzzle games, but I have worked with both MMOs and casual games, and believe I can offer some suggestions that I hope you find helpful.
The core puzzle game is great and addictive, and the tilt feature gives AF just that little twist every new IP needs to succeed. I realize that the MMO features are still a little undercooked as of the 1.0 release, but you need to strive to offer the player incremental rewards for their efforts. As I said, when the Power Ups and upgrades are more fully implemented this may be more apparent, but the rewards also need to feel meaningful to the player, to make a tangible difference when they play again. The task for you as the designer will be to create them in sufficient quantity, but without losing sight of the core gameplay as they begin to pile on.
Another area worth mentioning is character progression. Customization is great, but on a limited budget much can be forgiven. I'm talking about the actual means by which players advance and the perceived meaningfulness of the choices as they go. I think between the Mine, Store, Tower and Smith, you have plenty to expand on, but players need to be given major forks in the road and let them take the path they choose. With the exception of the Spellbook, it seemed as I gained levels that I only had one or two upgrade options in the main customization section. Other than perhaps a minimum level to progress further on a path, players should be given as many choices as possible... "Do I put a point in Alchemy, a point in Strategy, and a point in Sorcery, or do I put them all in Strategy?" And what does it give me if I choose one or the other?
Levelling shouldn't be tied to blueprints or other purchases, but it should take more and more mining to get to the next place (and this is where Power Ups and upgrades can come in handy). If you absolutely must tie them, be sure it's made crystal clear to the player what they need in order to advance!
Other tiny things... players should probably be able to see their accumulated crystal total without exiting the mine and entering another screen. Also, while the category/level structure may be an interesting way to divide the progression, it can be a bit confusing unless explained. May I recommend a Help section?
Finally, in regards to the community sharing issue that has stirred so much controversy, I agree with much of what has been said. If it is faster (and it usually is) to simply drop the feature entirely and revisit it a bit later, then do so. Your game is only going anywhere if it is available, people are playing, and you are working to update it. The faster you get out of damage control and back into improving the core game, the better for you and your player base.
When/if you do finally decide to return to the feature, might I suggest a modified Facebook-style, player-initiated method? If a player goes to the community section, present them with the option of Adding a Friend. If they select it, let them add a phone number or email address manually, or have the option to browse their contact list for convenience. No uploads, no security concerns. I'm not intimately familiar with the Apple SDK, but assuming they select the number of a friend with an iPhone, the request could then query AF's internal player database (which obviously it must have in order to store character data). If the number already exists, i.e. the person already has AF, it could send a message to the person associated with the AF program, essentially an "X wants to add you to his friend's list. Allow?" If the number does not show up, it sends the person a text message invite to join the game ("X wants to invite you to join him in AF."). Maybe even a link into the App Store? I don't know!
Best of luck, and I'm looking forward to seeing where Aurora Feint progresses.
