Indie Game Development Blog #3 - Finding The Fun

Creating fun an engaging mechanics is a very difficult task. This is where I’m currently at with my VR 3rd person game. Constantly writing down ideas, implementing them in engine and then playtesting.

Every prototype brings me closer and it’s very important to stay patient. I’ve ran into many problems in the past where I’d rush through prototyping so I could get into the polishing phase. Then when people played the game they didn’t enjoy the gameplay but more so the visual aspect. I want to get the gameplay right and for this prototype I implemented some new guardian mechanics.

I love using a bow and arrow in VR games. If you’ve ever played The Lab you’ll know what I mean. It’s so satisfying and fun! I want to figure out ways to make the bow more fun in the next prototype.

My initial thoughts were to make it a tool that supports Zara. Creating blocks so Zara can climb up surfaces. I got a good piece of feedback explaining how it appears that Zara can climb up her self. So I want to come up with a more interesting way for Zara to interact with this creation mechanic. Maybe she can climb on the arrows you shoot and jump from arrow to arrow rather than creating a block out of thin air.

The other idea I had was to shoot platforms and change them. In the video I show a floating platform which expands and detracts. When expanded Zara can easily platform over them but I noticed something wrong.

These mechanics allow you to help Zara but they don’t offer any interesting choices. It’s more so the player just shooting objects that the designer placed. In the lab enemies run to the door. They take different paths, sometimes jump and even turn on their side making it harder to hit them. It feels like you have to make choices and use your skill with the bow and arrow. The gameplay is much more dynamic, this is something that I want to implement for prototype V1.2.

I hope you enjoyed reading this blog entry! I wanted to write it after the video this time. When I see the feedback I can reflect upon my ideas and see what went right/wrong. I feel that this style of writing is more valuable as you can watch the video with my initial commentary showing off the new mechanics then after a day or so of reflection seeing my updated thoughts.

I wanted to mention one other thing if you didn’t catch it in the video or only read my blogs. I started a Patreon! I would love to make content creation online + game creation something I do full time one day. I believe Patreon would really support me in getting to this goal. I developed three tiers all foccused around game development. If you’d like to support me or learn more about it click the Patreon button below.

Thank you so much for reading this blog! I want to wish you a Merry Christmas and I hope you have a fantastic week.