Any game designers / developers on here? I'm making a mobile game for reading local news. Is it too boring? How can I improve gameplay?
gif of gameplay: https://imgur.com/mUyghav
link to game (works smoother on mobile browser): https://app.hi5gang.com/
This scene involves collecting coins and choosing your path ("choose your own adventure") in the news article. Is it too boring? How can I improve the gameplay? Or maybe better questions: How do you get inspired for casual gameplay? Do any examples come to mind of gameplay themed to "city" or "news"?
Hi there Vlad! I've made a few games myself, and have a Interaction Design Cert so I will try to offer my 2 cents. Great to see another game dev on here! I haven't played a lot of news related games but one that I reccomend you check out is called Factitious http://factitious.augamestudio.com/#/
For city related games, check out Benjamin Stokes project page. He is a professor at American University Game Lab and has a class called Playful Cities
https://benjaminstokes.net/projects/
I think right now I perceive what you built to be more like an app than a game. I think if after the user clicked on a pin the whole window changed and showed up close images of some sort with a longer story path and more choices, it would register more like a game.
That being said, if the ultimate goal is to funnel users to another place maybe a game isn't the best way to do that. Maybe an app is better.
I really like the cat and how it jumps to collect coins. The little mini world is really cute too. It's a little bit hard to click on the phone but it certainly engaged me enough to click around. I just wasnt sure what to do next once I reached the end, because it felt like I was missing something.
It seemed sort of like an interactive exhibit I might see at a news museum or something of that sort, if that makes sense.
@nprimak your feedback is AWESOME!!! I can't even begin to explain how great it is to hear that this game feels like some kind of museum interactive exhibit (compared to my lingering thoughts of this game being total crap, your compliment gives me hope for continuing the effort haha).
And fascinating suggestions - educational games to distinguish real news is a neat idea, and who knew folks like Stokes are doing this kind of work around cities!? ('Sankofa Says' is a cool idea for getting people to appreciate their cities; I'll dig around for inspiration).
You're spot-on about "app" being a better classification; I'm taking a gamble that the next wave of consumer apps will move away from typical design patterns of endless-scroll-lists and swiping-cards, to instead use game mechanics so testing this theory out with a simple news-app. Between your + others' feedback, I'm thinkin' my next steps are to find gameplay examples and redesign:
Thanks again Nadya for the honest feedback and helping me think this stuff out loud!!
P.s. books like Foot In The Door are exactly what's needed for folks leaving schools / self-taught (the "advice" published by HR experts and recruiters is laughably contrasting to how people actually break into tech)
@vdizzle I'm so glad that I could be of help! I agree that more apps are moving toward gameifying things and there are some very successful apps in that space, so def nothing wrong with that. I for one would love to see more apps that move away from scroll lists and swiping cards. Would love to see the next iteration, always cool to see fellow indie hackers making progress!!
Marketing my book has been a real uphill battle, but I'm glad that you think these types of books are needed. I also think so much of the advice is like "tech is great, rainbows and butterflies" and I am like "ok but actually no" lol.
My biggest problem is once I finish a project I get into a slump for a while. I haven't made any new games in a long time, because I didn't really know where to share my games and the contract I had fell through. I'm hoping it will be different with this book at least.
The struggle sucks dude - I hear ya; seems like the only thing I consistently accomplish is failure and disappointment lol.
I've been trying to get better at venting through my slumps (to prevent negativity spirals that take me out for weeks). It would be great to hear how you work through those moments, if you ever feel like sharing @nprimak💯