TL;DR
There's no game update this week. I'm working on a new game mode with leaderboard support that should be released on Dec 11.
Leaderboard
In order to make Many Minigames more replayable I've been working on support for a friends-only and global leaderboard. This includes a few different parts:
- [100% done] A manager to programatically save new scores and fetch the global or friends leaderboard
- [75% done] UI for the leaderboard
- [15% done] A new game mode called Infinity Challenge where you have one life and continue playing random minigames until you lose. This includes repeating minigames you've already played so there's no limit on high score.
I'm considering adding some mechanism to slowly make the minigames harder for Infinity Challenge, perhaps increasing the game speed slowly. I'm not sure if minigames will still work when I start tweaking the game speed so I'll need to try it out.
Feedback
I got a variety of very insightful feedback in the last week. Thank you very much to everyone who has given me feedback so far. I'll include the feedback itself as well as my current ideas for how to address it.
Feedback: Typing the alphabet is too hard for children
Thoughts: This totally makes sense but I don't have any ideas at the moment about how to make it more accessible. Perhaps if there were buttons that matched the letters then a kid would be able to guess that clicking each button to match would work rather than having to use the keyboard.
Feedback: The parking/merging kart minigames are broken
Thoughts: I don't understand exactly so I'd better do a bunch of testing of the kart minigames and see if I can break them.
Feedback: Something is making the kart minigames turn left constantly
Thoughts: Again, I'll need to do more testing!
Feedback: There should be more stages for roll-a-ball
Thoughts: This is a great idea! It would be pretty straightforward to crank out a few more stages. Perhaps each will have a unique gimmick so they aren't exactly the same minigames. So far I've considered slight variations as the same minigame and randomized between them when the minigame starts.
Feedback: Love the win and lose animations
Thoughts: That's great! I should add more of these. In general I should try to have something fun happen based on the minigame result.
Feedback: Showing the name of the next minigame removes the fun of having to adapt quickly
Thoughts: That makes sense. I think I'll keep the controls tip that highlights the mouse or keyboard for the next minigame, but remove the name itself.
Feedback: Texas Hold Me is not in the practice menu
Thoughts: Woops, I'll fix that!
Feedback: BEDMAS sometimes gives wrong answers for multiplication problems eg. 5-8x3 =-67
Thoughts: I'll look into this! I'm not sure how it got to -67 lol.
Feedback: Kids don't know "funny numbers"
Thoughts: The keypad minigame has been a frequent topic of feedback. I think I'll add a sticky note that says 1234 on the screen or something. So if the funny number clue doesn't help then the player can use 1234 from the sticky note, like someone keeping their password written down on their desk.
Feedback: Mouse maze can mess up immediately
Thoughts: I recently changed it to auto-start when your mouse moves close enough, but I don't think I tested all the map variations well enough. Perhaps a different trigger is needed to make sure the start happens intentionally, like you have to stay near the button for a handful of frames with a visual indicator.
Feedback: AWP scope hides the instructions and timer
Thoughts: I'll fix this :)
Feedback: Jump rope game is hard. Didn't know the timing initially so I kept hitting jump too late.
Thoughts: This is another minigame that gets a lot of "I can't beat this" responses. I'm going to tweak it so that you have 5 seconds to jump and that starts the game. This will allow the player to try the jump before the jump rope starts moving and get a feel for the timing and delay.
Feedback: Math lets you retry when it's wrong
Thoughts: This doesn't really match with all of the minigames. I'll update so it fails you if you submit a wrong answer.
Feedback: I didn't realize how many minigames there were because I was getting repeats in the main play mode.
Thoughts: I should modify the order of minigames in play mode so it's random except it will guarantee all minigames get played before repeating. It also may be worth having a set order for the first few games so that the player can eg. play minigames in ascending order of difficulty or try groups of games together like all kart games or all typing games.
A new homerun minigame
I've started working on a new minigame inspired by Winnie the Pooh's Home Run Derby using the same assets as the current homerun minigame. I'm not sure what I'll do for the pitcher, and leaderboard and Infinity Mode are definitely higher priority, but I'm having fun poking at this.
