Before I start coding anything I need to define some parameters. Game programming is a broad church, with many different genres, platforms and styles. 2D or 3D? Single player or multiplayer? Platform? Shoot-em-up? Console, browser or mobile?
I decided to start with the kind of game I play myself: casual, 2D and mobile. Often with a retro pixel-art feel, as I’m getting on a bit. And it’s still quite in vogue at the moment, surprisingly.
Luckily that ties in nicely with the pixel art course I bought, and looking through the composition course there’s a section on chiptunes. Hooray!
One game on the Google Play store in particular caught my attention: “Tomb of the Mask“. It’s heavily retro, mainly using 2 or 3 colour pixel art, large pixels and squeaks and bleeps taken straight out of my youth. The overall effect is of a ZX Spectrum, but with a classier feel. Maybe a BBC Micro or a Commodore 64. The game mechanic is simple but fun, combining a little bit of puzzling and memory work with regular action, timing and reaction based gameplay.
Go download it! But be aware that the monetisation system is brutal. Every time I load up the app I’m presented with the option of a “free trial” of subscription that would end up costing about £7 a week, just for some in-game coins and items. And, of course, to remove ads and provide “energy”.
If you’re not familiar with the idea of “energy”, it’s something I consider pretty evil. You start off with a number of units of energy, which you use up as you die. When you run out you either have to wait for the energy to recover (Let’s say it takes 20 minutes per unit), watch a video or buy some more with real money. Or, in this case, get a subscription that costs significantly more than both Netflix and Amazon Prime combined.
There are other little dark patterns in the game UI that try to trick you into watching videos or using up your in-game coins. Like a ‘chest’ you can open after you die, which kicks in another video. (The option to skip it only appears 3-5 seconds later, so I found myself automatically clicking on the “open” button because it was the only thing there.) Sometimes after opening a chest you’re invited (with a massive button) to open another chest for 200 coins, which is a whisker below the biggest reward a chest can give you.
The final straw came when I purchased the “remove ads” button, but found that the game was still packed full of videos.
I’m not the only one dismayed by this blatant display of avarice. The reviews are stuffed with people complaining about the frequency of ads and the cost of the subscription.
“This will never do!” I thought, and decided that I would make something a bit less Ferengi. There are a few clones in the Play store already, obviously incredibly badly made and with piss-poor reviews. I don’t want to make a clone, I’d like to stretch my creative muscles a little more than that. I do like the game mechanic though, and as you can’t copyright gameplay it’s mine now. Muhahahahhaaaaa!
Which makes sense really. I mean, imagine if only one company held the rights to jumping in a platformer, or double-jump…
If you can’t be bothered to download the game, the mechanic is simple. Each level is as a maze (tomb) with dots, much like PacMan. However the player, represented as a mask, moves incredibly quickly and can only stop when it hits a wall. This creates the puzzle aspect, as some complex sections need a little thought to get around. Just a little though, this game is mainly build to test reactions, memory and observation.
Some walls are deadly, some spit projectiles, some erupt in deadly blades a split second after you hit them. These form the basis of the reaction/action gameplay. Then there are the rotating sections, destructable blocks, various enemies, trampolines, etc. It’s obvious that the basic mechanic can be the platform for a lot of interesting ideas.
Write a game before I die 