Technical Journal for Go Go Sniper Created by Jonathan So

LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE PAST

Lessons from previous game 007 Legends Death Label Problem: Users didn’t know if they were damaging the enemy Lesson: Player feedback is essential Let players know if they’re jumping, shooting, damaging the enemy, getting damaged, etc. Use hitsparks, unique sound effects

Lessons from previous game 007 Legends Death Label Problem: Most players couldn’t pass level 1 Game concept was too hard to grasp Lesson: Teach the player how to play Implicit and/or explicit tutorial Simpler controls

Lessons from previous game 007 Legends Death Label Problem: Death Label just wasn’t fun Defeating enemies didn’t satisfy players Lesson: Game’s fundamental elements must be enjoyable to use “Game feel” Player movement must be inherently rewarding Use hitsparks, sound effects

How to progress from this… to this?

CONCEPT AND DESIGN

Concept – A Simpler Game Scale down from Death Label Focus: don’t make the same mistakes Fewer mechanics Simpler gameplay Make a game with rewarding game feel

Concept – Inspiration from the 1980’s Inspired by single-screen arena games Bubble Bobble, Mario Bros. Defeat every enemy on screen to win Focus on one core mechanic Mechanic: shoot through multiple enemies for a combo Figure: A core mechanic of the game is explained explicitly on the instruction panel.

Design Game will be a single-screen platformer Objective: Defeat all enemies on screen Secondary: Achieve the high score Multiple levels, all which complement the core mechanic

IMPLEMENTATION --GAME--

Implementation: Game Game contains two modes Tour Mode – progress through multiple levels with increasing difficulty Infinite Mode – survive as long as possible in one level which gradually becomes harder

How to achieve all of this? Game: Tour Mode 21 levels total 5 groups (worlds) of 4 + Boss level Levels must reasonably increase in difficulty First levels must teach the player how to play with an implicit tutorial How to achieve all of this?

Game: Tour Level Design Levels were designed on graph paper Introductory levels were designed last so that I had enough experience to teach players through level design Originally, 39+ levels Cut to 20 + Boss level

Game: Tour Balancing Levels were tested for multiple playstyles Survivor – plays to complete game, see ending Diamond – plays to achieve highest score Levels ordered by difficulty for these two hypothetical playstyles Arranged levels in a hierarchy Easiest to hardest

Game: Infinite Mode First piece of the game developed Minimum Viable Product Objective: Survive long, score high Challenge gradually increases over time Intended for seasoned players Does NOT teach game mechanics

IMPLEMENTATION --GAME FEEL--

Implementation: Game Feel Communicate to players that they are performing the action they intended E.g. If the player jumps, show that they did Achieved through unique animations and sound effects An animation and sound pair may only be associated with one action

Game Feel: Audio Effects Each action is paired with an exclusive sound effect (in table below) Follow conventions built over past 30 years E.g. The jumping sounds are inspired by those in 1980’s arcade games Boss Damaged Boss Jump Boss KO Coin Combo 1 Combo 2 Combo 3 Combo 4 Combo 5 Combo 6 Combo 7 Combo 8+ Cursor Land Run Extend False Extend Jump Player Hit Player KO Punch Punch Connect Ready Recover Respawn Scorpion Shot Player Shot Shot Stopper

Game Feel: Visual Effects Visual effects show that the player has performed an action Most player actions have unique effects Heavy use of “dust” to denote movement Two different hitsparks to differentiate between enemies being punched or shot For example…

Visual Effect Demonstration The animation on the right demonstrates two jumps First with dust rising below player’s feet Second without effects The first animation clearly communicates that the player has jumped Putting it all together…

Go Go Sniper in action

IMPLEMENTATION --TEACHING--

Implementation: Teaching Explicit and implicit teaching Explicit: Instruction card displayed before the game Teaches both basic and advanced mechanics For implicit teaching, embed introduction of mechanics into gameplay Figure: The instruction card shown before the game teaches the basic controls and complex scoring/combo system.

Teaching: What to Cover? Question: What does the player need to know to fully enjoy the game? Jumping Move to higher platforms Avoid enemies Shooting Defeats enemies Only one bullet may be out at a time Punching Stuns enemies, but does not defeat them Makes enemies faster (level up) Scoring Higher-level enemies are worth more points Combos score higher points

Teaching: Level Design Levels 1-4 of Tour Mode designed to teach 1 2 3 4

Teaching: Level 1 Spider enemies directed towards player Forces player to jump (to avoid) Player may discover to jump to other platforms (such as the middle one) Shooting defeats enemies Necessary for completing level

Teaching: Level 2 Two enemies are spawned in tandem Flank player on both sides Player tries shooting twice; only one shot may be active at a time, so they should punch Punching stuns enemies Does not defeat them Punched enemies get more dangerous

Teaching: Level 3 Introduce the Bat, new enemy type Easy to shoot both of them with the same bullet, introducing the combo system Reinforced with two Spiders (top left) Enemy spawning pattern encourages players to defeat both Spiders with one bullet

Teaching: Level 4 Introduce the Rock (bottom-middle) Rocks cannot be destroyed; they destroy bullets instead Cements the mechanics of previous levels Combo System Only one bullet may be active at a time Punching stuns enemies

Teaching: What’s left? Player should discover that the combo system and the enemy level system can be used in tandem for optimal scoring Enemy type not seen in the first four levels

Teaching: The Title Screen Even the title screen implicitly teaches basic and advanced mechanics! Players may not have grasped concept of optimal scoring In a short animation, convey almost all depth of the game

Title Screen: Animation

Title Screen: Outline Spider and Scorpion enemies walk onto the screen Scorpion fires stinger as a projectile Player jumps from side of screen Player punches Spider, increasing its level Player fires bullet, defeating both enemies Points displayed on top of enemies Player runs and jumps off screen

Title Screen: Breakdown Highlights almost everything in the game Player runs and jumps (reach higher ground) Punching enemies knocks them back Increases their level, changes color Scorpion shoots projectiles Shooting a row of enemies creates a combo Higher level enemies award higher points Enemy Value = Combo Position * Level Base Score Example: 100 + 300 was (1 * 100) + (2 * 150) Title screen serves a purpose: teach.

Teaching: Conclusions Almost all mechanics were covered through either the title screen or introductory levels of Tour Mode. Some surprises still exist Mistakes made the player cannot be attributed to lack of teaching Players should never feel confused by the game; they should see fair challenges.

Conclusion Flaws exposed in 007 Legends Death Label became points of improvement Go Go Sniper contains effective game feel and level/mechanic design. The game both implicitly and explicitly teaches players how to play No one ends up feeling lost

Play the game https://jonathan-so.itch.io/gogosniper