Shark Punch Blog Open development

Releasing a public prototypeMaking a game and showing it to everyone from the get-go has been on our minds for a long time. The Masterplan was available on early access with just a handful of levels and core functions implemented. Being open about the state of the game also meant our customers were satisfied even though the most visible public opinions of early access were negative.When your game has moments of enjoyment and lots of sparks that might ignite the imagination, the time has come to show it off. So show it off we will.What on earth are we building?Starting a new game is like launching a slightly DIY rocket without a proper guidance system, but rather a set of magic poking sticks correcting it's trajectory to whichever direction gains most thrust. (For us at least :D )That is not to say we don't have an end goal in mind, rather that the end goal is an abstract set of requirements that need to be met. How we get there is based on our skill and intuition, guided by magic pokes.Showing off the game early will keep our sensors adjusted to make sure our intention and the perception for a new player are aligned."The character designs were a result of quick brainstorms by whoever felt like it and then interpreted by the mighty pixel pen."There is no try?Sorry Yoda, but we're going to be doing a lot of trying. There's a point where speculation on a feature is fruitless and trying it out is far more efficient. Trying and scrapping leads us to footholds on which we can understand our direction better. This in conjunction with having the build live will let us make a playground of things that may or may not work and people will find their favorites (and possibly new funny methods of utilising features in unintended ways). There's already been numerous findings of things that feel really nice, even though there was no grand design for it, especially in small details that make game interactions tangible."Scifi doors are always fun, also easier than swingy doors to implement :D"Analysis on why a feature works well is often an afterthought with a "oh-that's-how-it-was-supposed-to-be" accompanied by a smirk.A side effect of trying a lot is of course the possibility of work ending up being scrapped. To minimise this, it's good to focus on basic functions such as movement and interactions that have a high chance of surviving even large pivots in design.You can see that previous scrapped features are all external to main character functions on our previous post: Prototyping CyberjackersNext stepsTo get the most out of our prototype, we'll be coming up with ways to maximise the ways in which people can poke it to a good, high-thrust, maximum fun direction.Our plan is to release a barely functional imagination teaser (also known as a protoype) on playfield in the near future, so look forward to it!Follow us on our Playfield page or the cyber-kitten "C@" gets some shock treatment!!