{"author_name":"pkenney","cat":"LD #34","comments":[],"epoch":1451815740,"likes":3,"metadata":{"p_key":"9302","p_author":"pkenney","p_authorkey":"30865","p_urlkey":"44518","p_title":"Expanding Psychotennis to Best-of-5 Matches","p_cat":"LD #34","p_event":"LD34","p_time":"1451815740","p_likes":"3","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"30865","us_name":"pkenney","us_username":"\/author\/pkenney\/","event_start":"1449792000","event_key":"31","event_name":"LD34"},"text":"

I think my game Psychotennis\u00a0<\/a>works pretty well as a quick LD game, where you can expect a player to sit and play for a bit. \u00a0It’s quick and fun with a very short game loop, so there’s a minimum of fluff and just straight gameplay.<\/p>\n

But for a post-compo expansion I would want to reward a longer play session. \u00a0To that end I’ve already changed the game from a one-game Match, to a “Best of 5” format, where you advance to new Matches by winning 3 games, and the fail\/retry loop is at the level of this larger Match.<\/p>\n

This also invites the idea of an “Adversary” who can apply some character to the procedural generation of levels<\/a>\u00a0and make a few taunting comments for some flavor.<\/p>\n

Of course, expanding in this way can be at odds with a tight game loop, and mapping out the new expanded game flow in advance helps me to know what I’ll need to build before jumping into coding.<\/p>\n

So here’s a map of the game flow before and after:<\/p>\n

\"GameFlow-3GameMatches\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I made this map pretty easily on draw.io<\/a>\u00a0and it helps me to minimize the button presses required from the player to move between states (Red) and know what I’ll have to implement in terms of UI (Blue) for the various states.<\/p>","time":"January 3rd, 2016 5:09 am","title":"Expanding Psychotennis to Best-of-5 Matches"}