A game is an app

March 25, 2015April 15, 2015 jmr

There comes a time for every game where the “game” part takes the back seat and the “app” part kind of takes over. I’ll explain in a moment what I mean.

Last week my latest game, Major Escape, reached closed beta status. A very select few testers are playing it and soon it’ll become an open beta. To get the game to beta, not only the main design and mechanics of the game have to be implemented, but also the user interface, menus, screens and in my case, the Leader-boards and Analytics for the game. Those last items is what I mean by the “app” part.

At some point I had to stop doing game, art and sound design, to deal with leader-boards and a comprehensive way to gather data from the testers, so that their time with the game could be used in the best way possible to make the best game possible. This has nothing to do with making a fun game, and everything to do with making a solid app.

Take this for example: text input. I want players to be able to write the name of their character in the game. If you are playing on PC, that is not a problem, everyone has a keyboard. In mobile devices however, that can be tricky. I was able to find an extension for Game Maker that allows me to call for the virtual keyboard on the device so problem solved, right? Nope. It only works for iOS and Adroid. I also want to develop this game for Windows Phone 8 and I don’t have a way, that I know of, to call for the virtual keyboard on this platform.
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It’s all about the upgrades

March 18, 2015April 15, 2015 jmr

As I’ve said before, Major Escape is meant to be a difficult game. That doesn’t mean that it’ll be impossible to play. As you play, and play it more, you’ll get better at it. With better skills you’ll be able to reach farther and farther, maybe even escape the planet.

Then there are the Upgrades. To aid you in your escape, the game features a series of upgrades that you buy with the accumulated points you gain on each run. These upgrades will make it easier for you to traverse the planet’s unforgiving hazards. Here’s a peek at the upgrade screen (work in progress):

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Major Escape level design

March 11, 2015April 15, 2015 jmr

For this week’s development blog, I thought maybe I could talk about some of the level design choices I’m making for Major Escape. This game is designed to be short and sweet. I expect that, when balanced, the game will give players about 2 hours of engaging game-play.

So, with that in mind, I had to create the level in a way that it could offer an unique and challenging experience every time it was played, without really adding too much content to it.

Each time you play a round, the entire corridor is created with random components. Each corridor is divided in rooms. Each room is randomly selected and then stitched together to form a corridor. The contents of the room themselves are somewhat random, but each room is carefully designed to offer challenge and fairness, according to the room’s level of difficulty. This type of semi-randomness is similar to that of games like Spelunky, one game that I admire for its brilliant design.
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Development Q&A for Major Escape

March 4, 2015April 15, 2015 jmr

For this week’s Major Escape development blog, I thought about making a kind of Q&A. I realized that I haven’t really told anyone what the game really is, how will it work or how does it look like. So, here we go…

What kind of a game is it?

Major Escape is a challenging 2D side-scroller where you need escape the planet you are on, while evading all sorts of obstacles, and collecting items for upgrades.

The main focus of the game will be to escape before is too late, but it will not be a simple task. Gravity is low, so you must learn to control you boost pack to properly evade the obstacles. You are against the clock, but if you take your time to collect items, you’ll be able to patch yourself if you are injured or even upgrade your equipment. Just don’t take took long or you risk getting stranded forever.

Every time you die, or escape, your attempt will be scored and you will receive points that you can use for upgrades.

How about a screenshot?

Sure. These are from the alpha version.

Is the game hard or casual?

The game is meant to be hard to complete without the proper upgrades. Making it to the end without using any upgrades is something I haven’t been able to do myself… yet.

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