What Your Game is Missing

Introduction

In the most recent game that I’ve been working on, I approached it like seemingly any normal person would. The game is a simple 2D platformer where you play as a penguin dodging other players that are trying to shoot you. I started with core functionality like movement, shooting, hit boxes, and then worked my way to less important details like menus, and game creation. Things like sounds, special animations, and leaderboards were on the back burner at the beginning since they weren’t crucial to the actual game play.

What I Was Missing

After several months of development I did my first demo run with a friend who told me the game seemed unbalanced. My game has 3 different characters all with different stats and abilities. I brainstormed how to better balance the game and came up with a point scoring system. Since small characters were harder to hit they would be worth more points by default. My thinking was that this might incentivize people to play large, slower characters so that the shooter would score less points if they got hit.

I implemented the point system and had the points animate in and out when you successfully hit a target. Head shots showed a nice satisfying bright green ‘+3’ and body shots displayed a less pleasing yellowish ‘+1’.

As I was testing this new feature I found the game much more enjoyable. I didn’t change any mechanics, or game play, but all of a sudden it just felt like I was having more fun. I was chasing those bright green +3’s and felt more satisfied with every kill. Since the shooting weapon was a laser, I added laser sounds and found that again it felt more fun to play. The more sensory feedback I added the more complete the game felt.

This probably sounds obvious, and does to me now too, but when you’re a solo developer overwhelmed with tasks these small details like sound FX seem so unimportant.

WoW and Block Blast Example

I’m then reminded of a youtube video that I find myself coming back to more frequently that I would like to admit. The video is just 90 seconds long and has almost 1 million views. The 2 top comments are so interesting: “Even all these years later we still come back to watch this.” and “Imagine trying to explain how epic this is to a normie.”

How on earth could a 90 second video of a bunch of bar graphs possibly be considered “epic”?

It took a while for it to click for me but I guess the brain just likes seeing numbers. Whether they are from progress or from high scores, the satisfaction it feels seeing them is definitely real. The video also has a perfectly picked soundtrack that adds to its “epicness”. So is some positive reinforcement in numbers and some sync’d audio all it takes to turn your game into a dopamine machine?

A slight aside, but as a world of warcraft player myself, I admit that I find myself looking down at the details meter (bar graphs) more than the actual game at times. As my screen fills with AOE numbers and my name shoots up the leaderboard after my ramp the experience definitely feels enhanced.

A final example I will use is Blockblast. The game is wildly simple but there’s so much positive feedback when you clear a line it almost feels like it’s tricking you into thinking you are having more fun than you are.

Conclusion

Video games are a form of entertainment, so it’s important to make them... well… entertaining. If your game feels like it’s missing something, it probably is. And perhaps all that’s missing is a few bright numbers popping up and some satisfying audio feedback.