FIELDS OF DUST - Development Post
Over two weeks I developed a top down asteroids-like game, built around the mechanics and aesthetics of the original Asteroids game.
Based on the procedures outlined in The Game Design Workshop by Tracey Fullerton, I followed the following stages
Foundations
I began by defining the core mechanics of the genre and what makes this game unique, and implementing the core mechanics to explore is viability.
Most asteroid-like games only share a few similar features. In terms of general movement, the player can only move forward and turn, and their primary means of interaction is to shoot in the same direction they are facing. The combination of these constraints means that moment to moment game play is a trade off between navigation/dodging, and attacking/defending. Because the player can only shoot in the direction they’re facing, they run the risk of flying directly into what they’re shooting.
From this baseline I began exploring new possibilities to tweak and expand these constraints. Alternatives and additions I tried included: Only being able to shoot backwards, meaning the player has to constantly switch direction; Removing the connection between movement and shooting, bringing the game closer to a top down bullet hell type game; And adding a gravity vector to the player’s movement, meaning the player had to constantly move to avoid falling haphazardly into obstacles, and having to adjust the way they shoot because of it. After play testing, the addiction of gravity spawned a significant diversity of new avenues and dynamics of play which made it very engaging to interact with, so I settled for that as a core mechanic.
Structure
From here I could begin constructing the broader structures of the game.
The objective here is to start shaping the game to match the intended experience of play. Objectives, obstacles, and some kind of score structure to represent how well you have achieved the objectives and avoided the obstacles are created to encourage the player to engage in the experience of the game.
Asteroids were created as obstacles, and they were implemented to spawn periodically in random places and to float around the map. The continuing addition of more asteroids builds a simple difficulty curve as the map slowly fills up with more obstacles. The primary objective of the game is to survive, so destroying the asteroids becomes the most direct representation of achieving that goal, so points are awarded to the player to represent their success. Conversely, failing to avoid the asteroids brings the game closer to a fail state by reducing the player’s health.
The game also needs a beginning and end, which is hinted at by the player’s health. The game is built to be playable indefinitely, so completing the objectives doesn’t bring upon a win condition, but there is a fail state if the player fails to avoid the obstacles - once the player loses all their health the game displays an end screen showcasing the players final score.
Formal Details
This part of development involved making sure the game is functional, internally-complete and balanced.
The section mostly involved play testing to identify problems and bugs, and implementing features that make the game feel more polished.
Features such as making the asteroids collide with each other, sound effects, and particles from explosions, collisions and the player’s engine all contributed to the completeness and play experience of the game.
Play testing from here also lead to alterations to the point system, number of lives, damage from the asteroids and the fire rate of the player to solidify these structures.
Refinement
Unfortunately refinement was out of the scope of this prototype, but it would have involved increasing player engagement through reward structures and game-feel elements.
References
Fullerton, T. (2018). Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Innovative Games (4th ed.). CRC Press LLC.
