It’s still in progress, but my latest work has been on the “Speed” minigame. Of the minigames currently available, this is the most like a traditional game – you dodge tiles, get powerups, and lose the game by losing all your lives.
The design for this game has changed fairly drastically from it’s first vision. Originally, the tiles fell from the ceiling, and then raised back up if you were in a safe space. The number of columns was fixed, and there were never more tiles than the number of columns, so there was a fixed number of game tiles as well. There was also no reason for the question tile to follow the game tiles down as only one question was visible at a time.
There were a few issues with this design:
- Difficult to measure progress
Because the tiles are moving and the player is stationary, the only progression value was how many rounds the player had survived (or time survived). - Player can’t prepare for other tiles
Only one set of tiles was visible on the screen. - Fixed columns limits flexibility
This is obvious, but having a fixed number of columns makes it more difficult to adjust the game difficulty. - How do you collect powerups?
Because there’s only a single instant where you need to be in the correct place and the rest of the time everything is stationary, I couldn’t find an intuitive way to collect a powerup.
To solve these problems, I ended up making one fundamental change – the tiles are slowly moving toward you, rather than dropping in an instant.
Due to this change, I was able to:
- Show progress as “distance traveled”, since the moving tiles create the feeling that the player is moving through space
- Show multiple set of tiles at once
- Place powerups between sets of tiles as a challenge for the player to collect
- More clearly express the “moment of impact” – move before the tiles hit you!
I also removed the fixed number of columns and added the idea that you have a fixed number of lives. I rotated the screen by 90 degrees as most viewing devices are wider than they are tall.
Design and coding for the speed game are still in progress, but it’s currently the most fun you’ll have in Kanapuro! It’s also still a very effective way to study; more effective than traditional flashcards since you still get a guided experience.
