Probe Wars has been updated significantly. It started off as a week long mini project but after playing it some, I decided it was worth additional polish. I’ve added sound, fixed the UI, and made networking enhancements. Check it out here.
One of the things I learned from my testers is that they were having trouble figuring out where to place obstacles in the game. They didn’t understand that you could only place on your side of the map and didn’t know the sizes of the obstacles to be able to place them strategically. To fix this, I added a “shadow” to the placing mechanic. The shadow is green when you are in a valid placement area and is red when you are in an invalid placement area. I really think this improved the game.
The most basic sequence of events in any user interface is the following:
state – > user input -> new state
However, if the user isn’t aware of how their input has changed the state they won’t be able to make meaningful choices. Feedback to the user is a critical component of not just game design, but user interface design in general.
#1 by John on October 16, 2009 - 7:35 pm
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Well, I just played myself in Probe Wars.. I placed a lot of reversers, pulsers, and speedups.. it actually took me 4 or 5 too many turns to win because of how hard the reversers made it. Oh well, it was pretty fun. Now on to my main problem- In breakout clone I don’t like the chug between the first time I hold left or right, and when it actually starts moving me. So with that said- make me my tavern game! But really- I am pretty impressed thus far by your games.
#2 by admin on October 18, 2009 - 5:46 pm
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Hmm, it was about time for a bug hunt. Thanks for the tip. The new version of Breakout with that control issue fixed has been posted.