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[tross]

Hi all, does anyone have any tips and tricks on how to keep a game simple (and buildable) but also allow enough progression to keep it fun?

I'm playing around with a game idea in which the core mechanic is slicing fruit. Probably would be targeted at portals or Facebook for the casual crowd for a few minutes of fun at a time.

Would a mixture of objectives such as slice the correct fruit, accuracy and a high score be enough? I'd like to keep the amount of art minimal but somehow have more depth and progression.

Any ideas or input would be appreciated!

[roboprez]

Judging by your idea I think that's too simple to really be a so called "pogression" game. Simple games on portals usually keep the player occupied with flashy graphics to hide the lack of core game mechanics. I think you need some varied objectives to do to keep the player quick on their feet

[tross]

Thanks! I guess what i meant by progression was advancing the player in various ways than just a high score.
Varied objectives sounds like it would do the trick.

It's so true that it's hard to keep things simple!

[LuisAnton]

Old Game&Watch games used to master that simply making the game faster, and therefore more difficult. Well, even Tetris does that. : )

[Contrary]

A big draw of a lot of games is looting and gaining equipment. Maybe have a store with big fancy adamantium knives and jewel encrusted carbon fiber cutting boards?

[jcsymmes]

This sounds a lot like a "They loose they play another game" style flash experience-which is not a bad thing. To many flash designers i think that if they kill the person in the first 20 seconds people are going to keep playing. Its not a bad thing but you have to be honest about it. 

  The trick in the game style is to make an experience where people think theres a good chance to loose..... but they never actually do. I would design the first couple of levels exprermley easy to play..and then ramp it up to difficulty after about 10 minutes to an average person can do this...and only after 30 minutes go "you might loose this one". Now this is a lot of trial and error here, and you are your worst tester, but try to get the balance right. Timming games are about as much your timing as anything else.   

And another thing-this always gets me-don't make it so you have to press one button on the keyboar and use the mouse the rest of the time or the reverse.  This bugs me.

However when it makes the portals it does sound kind of fun and i'll give her a try! 

[Swattkidd]

hmm, I saw this game

, and it reminded me of this thread...was curious if this is what you had in mind?

[gimymblert]

Finding play pattern on paper first is what i do (parameter that affect actions and their experience effects). Paper testing is also handy before implementing. Also etablishing the rythm of the game (how many action a player will meet in one minutes). Establishing the average time for a party, and the target time of play, that let you infer action per minutes vs repetition. etc...

EDIT:

that's the basics lol