Strategy and Autonomy: Devlog #9

We're Still Doing This?

         Just as you have the right to click off this post, players have the right to playgames in whatever way they want to and are able to. Autonomy is simply the right or ability for one to make their own decisions, and to the misfortune of developers, players do in fact have it. You can design a game to be played in one set-in-stone manner, but there will always be some lunatic who beats the entire thing with a stick for a weapon. Some developers like to be authoritative in their design, making playstyles that stray from the developer's vision either more difficult or outright impossible. However, many of today's titles with varying budgets and team sizes have opted for a more sandbox-esque approach. They encourage players to think creatively about problems and provide a wide variety of tools to face an often non-linear set of challenges.

         There's just one problem, as there usually is. If developers want to give players the ability to have autonomy in the strategies they use to overcome obstacles, they have to find some way to do that without opening the floodgates entirely. What specifically can players do to modify how they interact with the game, and to what extent can they do that? Even the developers that make more open-ended games nowadays tend to leave out the asterisk there; you can't actually be that creative, lest the game's balance would crumble in on itself (more than it likely already has).

         To me, half the fun in games comes from them allowing me to strategize and think creatively about problems. I can't imagine making a game without that flexibility, so I want to find a way to encourage strategic creativity in Enchanterland. The thing is, that's hard. So, as per usual, let me give some insight. In this devlog, I'll discuss how I'm turning everyone's favorite unfinished beat-em'-up fantasy platformer into a unique experience for every player.

The 'Hub World'

         You've seen this feature all over the place, especially in rouge-likes.  A hub world is the area you return to every time you get back from an adventure, either willingly or by dying horribly. Often, but not always, hub worlds play a key role in the how players manufacture their strategies. In Hades, the House of Hades is where players decide what permanent upgrades to buy with all the crap they got from looting the underworld. More notably, however, this hub world is also where players decide which weapon to use. The hub world is often the "game outside of the game", since its the zone for strategic decisions made before the action starts. There are different features that accomplish the same thing in other games, but the hub world is my personal favorite. Coincidentally, it's also the easiest to implement. Instead of having to dot an open world with different handmade cities connected by a fast-travel system, you can just make one hub world. I'll go ahead and save myself 72 hours of time by saying the hub world is the right call for Enchanterland.

Damn, can my house look like that?

         If you have a better memory than I do, you may recall that I decided against implementing my original idea for an equipment system after approximately three seconds of considering it's ramifications. The original idea for this involved having an inventory and equipping enchantments/items as you picked them up in the levels. Small problem: that would be a huge disruption to the pacing, especially for a platformer. I don't know about you, but constantly feeling the need to stop and equip an amulet that gives me 2% more walk speed in a Super Mario game would probably put me in the hospital. 

         However, the hub-world seems like the cheat code to having my cake and eating it too. After players finish an action-packed level or even a series of levels, they could use a place to unwind. This calm before the storm also just so happens to be the perfect place to prepare for said storm. Maybe, instead of being able to immediately equip the stuff you find in a level, your equipment can be locked as soon as you step out of the hub world. Also, instead of having an inventory that accumulates the junk you've picked up, levels could simply give you access to new items to choose from in that hub world. This process of unlocking new items can keep the excitement going while also preventing players from being blasted with all of these options right when they load up the game. This isn't really all too innovative, most rouge-likes only let players pick their characters or build their decks before their run actually begins. However, I haven't yet seen that kind of design get extended to games like mine. Maybe it has been done before in a similar context, so let me know in the comments how I'm ripping off your favorite unfinished beat-em'-up fantasy platformer.

The Equipment

         The hub world can't really do much for my goals on it's own. For Enchanterland, I want to implement equip-able items that grant different effects that then change how players interact with the game. It is here that I would like to make a distinction in case anyone is unfamiliar with the terminology for different types of item effects. Passive Effects are either alterations to the core mechanics of a character or abilities that activate automatically. Take, for instance, that hypothetical amulet that gives you 2% more walk speed in Super Mario. That amulet offers a passive effect; it changes something about Mario on it's own and doesn't require any direct action from the player to use, besides stopping to equip it. Active Effects are, as you might have guessed, the exact opposite. They require the player to willingly activate them with some sort of action that the player wouldn't normally do without said item. Fire flowers are power-ups that give active effects, since the player wouldn't normally spam their run button in such a way without one.

         In the context of Enchanterland, many active effects may present a problem. I previously stated that the number of different buttons that must be used should be on the smaller side. This not only makes the game more accessible and easy to learn, but it also makes the game more intuitive and prevents the analysis paralysis that I sometimes get from other beat-em'-up games. However, if I were to introduce too many items with active effects, I would likely need to add more buttons. There's only so many different things you can do with a mouse and the WASD keys. For this reason, I think only one type of equipment item should be binded to it's own key: consumables. Potions, food, scrolls, potions, potions, and so on. Adding one extra button that is only pressed when the player needs a shot of health or a power-boost wouldn't kill anyone. The rest of the items, I think, should either be passive or should only require the use of the limited input palette. The enchantments given to players within the levels should probably follow this rule as well; they don't get a special pass just because they're automatically equipped on pickup.

         So, what should some of the effects given by items be? Thanks to the nature of passive effects there are essentially infinite possibilities here. Maybe there's an item that gives you a timed speed-boost after knocking out an enemy. Maybe there's an item that gives you a brief damage boost after taking damage, or a damage boost that stays active when you're at full health. I could boost the potency of attacks, enchantments, consumables, health, mana, and more whenever certain conditions are met. The very interesting part, in my opinion, is what these items could do for the experienced players that want to maximize their scores. Let's say that there's a score multiplier bonus for completing a level in a shorter amount of time. Since players are now incentivized to move as quickly as possible, they may want to take that item that boosts their movement speed after every KO. But it takes time to defeat enemies, so they might want some kind of damage boost as well. They can then decide between the constant damage boost at full health, or the brief damage boosts every time they take damage themselves. In the former scenario, they get a very consistent damage boost, but are forced to play safely; that could slow them down. In the latter, health becomes a resource. Purposefully taking damage, even if it initially costs some score, could be a viable strategy in the long term. What I just described was an in-depth interaction between three fairly simple items that I made up entirely on the spot. Designing these items isn't difficult, since none of them have to be very complicated to serve their function.

         As was also brought up in the last devlog, casual players don't need to worry too much about any of this. The scoring system doesn't prevent anyone from accessing content; it only serves as a source of depth for players who want that. The scoring system on it's own is fine and all, but combined with this equipment system, the sky is the limit.

         The only problem with the sky being the limit is that I can't confidently predict how easy it is for players to reach the sky. A lot of this depth stops mattering when someone finds the objectively best combination of items that can be used to get the maximum amount of score possible. Unfortunately, I don't have any end-all solution to this. If it happens, it happens. Items can always be rebalanced in an update, though I am also a firm believer that older versions of non-online games should remain available if they can. My hope is that the 'optimized' synergies will at least be more difficult to use, and that different combinations can at least contend with the better ones. I do think the selection of items should be kept at most within the two-digit range. Part of the reason Magic: The Gathering has some balancing issues is because new cards have been coming out for decades; a few of which have been outright banned in most forms of play. Not to mention that having too wide of a selection will only make it more difficult for players to make any choices at all. Another way I could mitigate potential balancing issues is by properly limiting the number of items that can be taken out of the hub world.  A smaller number of equipment slots would mean less combinations, but dealing with opportunity cost would still be a part of strategizing. Some simple testing could help me gauge the sweet-spot between freedom and limitations through tweaking those numbers.

What too much inventory space does to a game.

That Was Something

          Introducing these items still puts me somewhat at risk of falling into the scope-creep pit, which I already said I wouldn't do. However, consider this: these aren't going to be difficult to implement, they add a ton of depth to the game, and I really like drawing pixel art items. To some extent. I am straying a little bit away from that "what can I remove" mindset. Though it's worth noting that the groundwork for the entire game is pretty much laid out at this point. You prepare in the hub world, set out to clear a level/set of levels, get new stuff, and then go back to the hub world. That's Enchanterland's core gameplay loop. I think scope-creep would become a problem if I decided to implement side features that exist outside of that loop, but I'm not going to. With that being said, I'm going to go find some way to feel productive without the 'productivity' part. Buh-Bye!