6x Mass Production [puzzle game]
Over the last couple of months, I've put in bits and pieces of spare time into making this game, 6x Mass Production. It's a puzzle game including elements inspired by games like SpaceChem and The Codex of Alchemical Engineering (both made by Zacatronics Industries <3 ). The basic goal is to create the target construction with a supply of hexagonal-ish parts, put together with ingeniously placed grabbers to move them and welders to join them.
WebPlayer (18MB): https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/63346058/6x%20Mass%20Production/6xMP_web.html
Windows build: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/63346058/6-Fold-Mass-Production-Win32.zip
Mac: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/63346058/6-Fold-Mass-Production-MacOS.app.zip
Linux: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/63346058/6-Fold-Mass-Production_Linux_x86.zip (just cannot get the Linux version to work on my side :o , please let me know if it does/doesn't and what went wrong)
What I hope to achieve:
What I hope to achieve/learn by posting this here:
And so I take it from here. I want to keep holding it back to make that next set of improvements/fixes. But it's at a state that people can play it and get a feel for it, so I must send this into the wild to sink or swim. I really hope you enjoy playing it! Let me know what you think ^_^
Planned Improvements:
WebPlayer (18MB): https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/63346058/6x%20Mass%20Production/6xMP_web.html
Windows build: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/63346058/6-Fold-Mass-Production-Win32.zip
Mac: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/63346058/6-Fold-Mass-Production-MacOS.app.zip
Linux: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/63346058/6-Fold-Mass-Production_Linux_x86.zip (just cannot get the Linux version to work on my side :o , please let me know if it does/doesn't and what went wrong)
What I hope to achieve:
- Make an interesting, fun, and challenging visual-programming-esque puzzle game!
- I would like to actually release this game, not for profit or anything. Just in my spare time to go through the process myself
- That said I'd like to do as a professional job as possible and give it a chance to succeed
- Collaborate with (or hire) a UI artist to make it look pretty and give it some life (this project is very programmer art heavy atm, though I tried to add some atmosphere with the music and sounds)
What I hope to achieve/learn by posting this here:
- Is it a worthwhile idea to continue with? Even if it's not for $TEXAS would it be worth the effort? (this is kinda a baby of mine... but *sniff* will kill it *sniff* if I have to *puppy eyes*)
- What mechanics could I add to it that would compliment the style of game?
- Buuuuuuugs (pls notify me of any, I'm trying to pretend that this is a beautiful non-hacked together solid piece of game code architecture :p)
- What would be a good way to market a puzzle game? It doesn't have the instant appeal of action games, youtubes would be more bore than boon(?)
- Any comments or criticisms? I'm all ears and brutal honesty is appreciated. My main worry is that it is too complicated. But hey, so was SpaceChem and I enjoyed the hell out of that game...
And so I take it from here. I want to keep holding it back to make that next set of improvements/fixes. But it's at a state that people can play it and get a feel for it, so I must send this into the wild to sink or swim. I really hope you enjoy playing it! Let me know what you think ^_^
Planned Improvements:
- More levels! And level sets, and worlds!
- Splitter (as opposed to the welder) so that you could get a big part in, and have to re-engineer it to something else (this one is important)
- More parts (right now the game only has 2, I want like 20)
- Augment the parts. Essentially you'd need to 'paint' them a certain colour, though I was thinking wiring them up with electronics or magnets or explosives or whatever. Basically something more interesting (although technically the same) than just 'change the colour', this ought to add a dimension of planning to the construction process that is lacking at the moment.
- Multiple connected construction areas ala SpaceChem, so that big complicated constructions can be achieved with a construction pipeline
- Dual output areas ala SpaceChem
- Add a some narrative and life to it (again, ala SpaceChem)
- Fix up the UI and tighten up the graphics on level 3
TitleScreen.png
1154 x 726 - 413K
Screen1.png
1168 x 728 - 437K
Screen2.png
1166 x 728 - 373K
Comments
Any advice would probably go a long way, I need to get a hold of looks and feels (and I could pour time into it, but I don't know where or what to pour!)
(I also discovered that you under no circumstances call this a 'programmer' or 'programming' game... it scares people away)
Also... Linux build please! My laptop is dead so I am Windowsless :(
Okay, so "programmer" style games are basically like crack and you've got a really cool system here. I've played about 5 or 6 levels, I think (left the tutorial messages behind a few rounds back) and it really does allow you to feel clever about things.
Right now, I think the game could do with more constraints or goalposts. You seem to have a rather free and sandboxy approach at the moment and I feel that the game could do with either (1) a slight limitation on resources, like the number of grabbers, welders, etc OR (2) a "par" measure for your construction work, maybe tied into the total number of instructions spread across various grabbers (you could do the latter easily by running through the puzzle yourself, seeing how many instructions YOU used and challenging players to not only win the level, but try match your output efficiency).
Point 2 in particular would do a very good job of inspiring me to challenge myself instead of just using brute force. At the very least, it would be a good indicator of roughly how well I'm playing the game and having a yardstick will be far more compelling for early levels (where it probably isn't TOO much of a challenge to just beat the scenario, it's just a bit of time and trial/error).
Actually, yeah, ignore point 1. Go for setting up a par score per level. That would be great.
One small UI touch I can think of that would facilitate more understanding: I didn't realise until a few levels on that the component you put into the green area doesn't need to be at exactly the orientation depicted in the Target box, so it may be a quick and useful idea to just have that rotating nice and slowly to show that it's directionally agnostic or whatevs. ;)
And as a final note: when you move on to refining progression and whatnot, I think the complexity curve should be staggered just a little more. Not so much in terms of component introduction -- new instructions, pieces, etc are introduced at a fairly respectable rate -- but rather how complicated the task with those instructions needs to be. I don't want to have my first welding scenario be a complicated one: gimme a very simple weld exercise that lets me focus on understanding the new mechanic instead of understanding it AND solving a moderately complicated puzzle at the same time. :)
Have you ever played Manufactoria, btw? Also another great programmer-style puzzle thing. Very Turing-Machine-esque.
... ahhh, and some way to save progress through the levels is a priority. :P I can't play this through all at once and it's a shame to have to restart when I reopen.
1. There was a big initial jarring dissonance between the "target area" and the arm's mobility! I saw the big green area, and my thought process was: "I must fill it with stuff" > "but the arm is locked to hex directions and can't reach half of those blocks!" > "THIS GAME IS BROKEN I'M OUTTA HERE". After some perseverance I realised that you could drop stuff anywhere in the area, but that first moment of dissonance was quite big...
Not sure exactly how to fix this, the giant green area could probably be communicated in a different way. Also the way the things disappeared after dropping into the area confused my a bit (the connection to the number bottom right was not apparent).
2. Then, figuring out how to operate the arm... I think it would be easier if the grey bar wasn't there to start, and only appears (with an arrow or something) when you click on the grabber, I keep trying to drag the icons to the grabber... In fact, that could be good, and you have the programmable bar next to the grabber?
3. The myriad of options shotgunned at me from the start makes me go "eh". Well, I realised after examination that you could only really do 3 things in two directions (rotate left and right, extend and retract, grab and drop), but it feels much more complicated than that.
4. Related, I feel that if the instruction sets could be reduced or simplified, it would be more immediately engaging and more interesting? Like this arm could only turn right, or that arm can only extend/retract, or something. I guess what I'm talking about is somewhat of a tutorial process to ease the player into the concepts AS WELL AS introducing limitations to funnel their attention into smaller bits of interaction. And limitations, I think, will make solving the problem more fun anyway :)
5. The "Stop" should probably be "restart", it was confusing to stop, and try and change things midway, to realise that you've gone back to the start.
6. The objective seems to be a bit too tedious, or at least as a start it seems tedious. I think the fun may come in figuring out a rep or two... 20 seems a bit much - I realise that there's fast forward, but what's the point if 20 reps if the same could be done in 2 reps? Or are there more crazy stuff later that interrupted the reps, demanding more attention? If that's the case maybe introduce the higher reps later?
7. Maybe some of this motivational things could be solved with a bit of theme, some kind of interesting reason to be doing this mass production? Like building something... What is that something? Not sure...
Edit: 8. The closest thing I can compare this to is Robo Rally, which is programming-tastic, but it puts severe limitations AND multiplayer into the mix, resulting in challenges to overcome beyond programming. And chaos! Juxtaposing chaos and control, and overcoming chaos with control is cool. And I think that there's not enough chaos or limitations to let people enjoy the programming.
I also kinda want to see the next instruction an arm is going to perform being "fetched" at the arm's root or something. That would be pretty awesomely helpful in tying instruction sequences to loops and mental logic, mostly because I think the looping nature of the game is where the majority of your interesting elements are going to come from.
Arms should totally be able to lift objects over other things, or maybe that's a special kind of "crane arm" that you only have a limited number of?
Gameplay wise, I'd love to know where this is heading, but I don't quite have the time to beat all the levels to see where you're going with it, so here are my suggestions (some of which you may have used already).
- Placement limitations: you can only build grabbers/welders/other things on certain locations. This might force you to build some 'daisy chain' carriers?
- Arm/piece blockers: hexes in the environment that arms and pieces can't move through, limiting your movement arcs.
- Pre-programmed arms: Arms that have their own instruction set, that you can inspect, but not edit. You need to either work around them, or use them to your advantage.
-Arms that can pick up and move/rotate other arms. ARMCEPTION!
-Ditch the whole output area thing, make it a single hex that you just have to touch with an object (it can be a teleporter or a magnetic crane arm that whisks finished objects up and away or whatever)
-Add sparks. Sparks when arms extend, sparks when they stop, sparks when objects collide. Sparks!
These are wonderful comments and ideas, some have been running around my head already and some really good ones I hadn't thought of at all! Responding one by one, some of the ideas cross reference so I've grouped them were I can and taged those involved.
@creative630: So I have a story idea running in my head is of an engineer, fresh out of studies, joining a company that is trying to utilize this new fabrication technology (i.e. the game taking parts and making hex-things out of it). This tech is based on some new undiscovered scientific breakthrough, akin to the breakthrough that quantum mechanics and nuclear power gave the world. I wanted a more high tech aluminium clean feel to the UI (garage was as far as I could manage :p) and the post it notes were left from your supervisor as part of your training. So to not get into too much detail I want the levels to come in sets, each set you are fabricating on a different scale, starting with a desk sized grid fabricating little toys and gadgets, then as you progress through the game (and in the company) you build hex-things on increasing scales (large desk size grid, floor, warehouse, hanger, space station). The plot has many directions it can explore from there, I'm thinking of an uncovering conspiracy theme, maybe. You start being commissioned to build very strange devices at larger scales, discover the (evil/unethical/dangerous) nature of these devices, use fabrication technology to start to build countermeasures to the newly discovered threat, and a big boss battle at end where you have to construct something balls complicated (like SpaceChem... I know I know I just love the game too much) to defeat/conclude the story. I have a more solid idea (or two) in my head but I'll leave it open-ended for now, always willing to change that idea for a better one.
I'll update the link with the Linux version (here it is for now ;)), every attempt to get it to work has ended in failure. If you figure out what packages are needed let me know! It keeps crashing before it even gets into the game!
@Nandrew: Yes, point 2, I think it would be good if the player can complete it in any fashion they see fit, the way I want to go with this is sort of mini-sandbox levels with a task, and your particular solution is yours, not the level designer (though obviously there are ideas of what a good solution would be when designed). I want emergent solutions :) So I'm going to add instruction counters, cycle counters, and part counters (and <insert your idea here> counters) and have a par score (as you suggested).
For the complexity and progression, this will be a LOT of work since it's all just level design and one person's idea of easy might be different to another (there was an article on this somewhere, I'll try find it again). So I probably made the difficulty curve way too gentle in fear of scaring off people. I need a level/world select screen anyway, so I was thinking within a level select/progression screen that I'd have a non-linear progression whereby there are split paths and you only need to take one of them to progress, or ability to play levels one or two ahead. If you want to go all Korea on it you can do them all, or just skip ahead at whatever pace you like. I'm still going to have to nail this down in my head. For now, skipping a level or two ahead and getting 'points' to progress (ala 'Cogs' and probably a million other games) would be easy to implement in the meantime.
and have I played Manufactoria?! *indignant grunts and splutters* why my good sir, how dare you imply I haven't! *challenges to a duel* ... yeah it's like the best game evrawr :D
@Nandrew @Aequitas: In terms of limiting resources, limiting the actual number of parts usable is not the direction I want to go (although I would like to experiment with this idea). But instead I was thinking of making a space-penalty for using them. For instance the welders take up 4 blocks at the moment, they could take up additional blocks around them, making their use very spatially expensive. Similarly with grabbers or @dislekcia 's 'lifter-grabbers'. I would prefer this sort of limitation since it fits in with the spatial problem solving aspect of the game (and was done in <insert nearly all Zacatronics games here> to great effect)
fffff, I have to run, I'll leave this here and @Tuism @dislekcia @Aequitas I'll get to your responses asap.
Really, a big thanks to you all! I appreciate the time you took to give the game a shot and give feedback
brb, opening a new life chapter
re point1. I totally see the dissonance between the output area and "what on earth am I doing here", I was thinking of watermarking the area with either "output" or similar, or with the actual counter. The UI needs to connect with that better, I agree.
2: Maybe a more gentle first impression would help? A lot of people expressed this same difficulty to understand wtf to do on start. Thinking I'll only give the very basic left/right, and grab/drop instructions up front, just to get the basics of wtf is happening with a clear arrow from generator ---> finish zone and saying "get parts to this area" or something like that/ I think this very first level will just get the idea through. Thereafter I want to have a bunch of skippable tutorials to lead in those that want to learn all the steps but allows people to go "I got this" and skip ahead.
3,4: see @dislekcia reply and @Aequitas reply below
5: *nod*, agreed, "stop" -> "reset" also make it clearer somehow that pressing start means no more editing
6: yup, many people said it was overkill, 10 should be sufficient I think.
7: Yes! I want the parts to be interesting (wheels, parts with wiring, engines, wings, gold parts, organic parts, circuit boards, glass tubes) and the targets to actually be a 'thing' (anything! ... err, anyhexthing!). I'm talking to a friend of mine to do some artwork for it, not final art just yet but enough to get the idea across of "I am building a (recognizable) 'thing' here"
8: Robo rally, *research hat on*, will check it out! Not sure if chaos is what I'm imagining where this game is going, I'm leading it in a 'this is my lovingly designed solution' approach (even if your lovely design is clunky and overcomplicated, it's *your* lovely clunky design :p and then maybe drive to improve it as @Nandrew et al suggested). Chaos + programming sounds like a blast! In general, limitations generate novel solutions, so I'm giving some serious thought to limiting certain things as a challenge earlier on in the game, then move towards the sandbox production line direction I'm hoping for.
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@dislekcia (+ @Tuism): So like a shadow arm that shows what the instructions would be at point X... very interesting idea, I like it. Will have to think about how this would be controlled (moar UI :p). The UI around the arm for instruction is also a good idea, and should help close the dissonance between arm and arm's instructions. I'm worried about moving actual programmed instructions to somewhere on or near the arms (even as a context menu) since it might look crowded but I think it actually might be the better idea than I'm giving it credit. I'm going to experiment with some related ideas. Really like the somehow fetching instructions going to the root (or displaying the current instruction on the root of the arm?)
Special crane arms are a yes! Won't be this next version but I like the idea :D
I actually thought of the armception arms! Did a shoulder/elbow vibe in an early ludum dare prototype/protobroken (gin inspired vid) and it was quite fun, the instruction-set was starting to get abusively large with having minor arms turning, so armception would be a great way to do this!
Like the idea of limiting the output area from a 'must be all in' to 'just get something here' *nod* though might make it like 7 cells instead of a single one.
Sparks! ... yes :)
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@Aequitas @Tuism: On first reading of a reduced instruction-set and limitations on resources I was not for it at all ("ruin my beautiful programming language set and sandbox game, blasphemy!") but on reflection I think these could be really good for the game given its potential complexity. Having different types of grabbers that only go left/right or extend/retract would be easier to digest and then later they could be combined into a 'super grabber' that can do both (tho in fact, this will be more the 'actual grabber' made up from 'sub grabbers'). So I now love the idea! :D I'm not sold on the only going left and only going right sort of limitations, neither am I on the cells that you can't go through... but I might sell them to myself later down the line... they're not bad ideas, afterall :)
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So with all this said, here are (high level) plans for v0.2:
- Updated instruction UI with more intuitive way of programming instructions
- generally updated UI to include things like rotating targets, better spatial locality between UI and gameplay objectives (i.e. instructions actually on or near the arm, output and counter being more closely linked)
- Level select screen, with more levels and separate level-sets/worlds, but the option to skip ahead a level or two if you feel you got the idea (especially important for the 'Tutorial world')
- New artwork to make actual things, things with names, like 'car' 'gun' 'teleporter' and the parts (wheel, barrel, circuit board) to build them with (this will help inspire a narrative a bit more down the line too)
- New gameplay elements, definitely want a 'splitter', but also going to create 'sub-arms' with limited instruction-sets with the goal of having the super-arm (i.e. the current arm) at your disposal once you get the hang of the sub arms.
I think this is a reasonable milestone for now, there are still so many good ideas (armception!) but Imma leave them for v0.3 and focus on these.
Given the comments (here and elsewhere), I'm confident to go forth and try make this into something! v0.1 started as personal training in solid game-software architecture using the idea as a base. v0.2 will be a larger step that I'm hoping will be the start of an actual game.
Comments still welcome, will let you know how things are going and will notify of updates!
I only did the first 3 levels or so, so I've still got lots to play.
So this was actually done in December, but after quite a rough year I packed up shop and took a holiday. No harm though, and 6-Fold Mass Production is looking really sweet in any case (I think). This is just early days and I've got a bit of work to do before it is playable again. It went through a massive overhaul under the hood, but also a massive overhaul in the visual look and feel of the game. I'm working on a blog piece ... err ... soon about the art and music and how it came together. This is still early days and this was more a proof of concept (aesthetically) so we are expecting it to change as we go along.
But for now here are some vids of what we have:
With awesome music by Joe!
Slightly more complex level, but no music (and both vids with awesome art by Gabe, although note that the art was very quick and dirty, so there are a few off by 1 pixel problems - which we are aware of)
The art is by Gabriele Gabba and the music is by Joe Boltan, both huge talents and I'm super stoked to be working with them to make this game a reality!
(Joe is a composer, very talented in my opinion but starting out in game releated stuff, here is the song used in the game and here is another song he made, which might not be suitable for 6-Fold, but def suitable for some game... listen to it, it is audio-sex ... what was I sayi... oh, so yeah, any advice or criticism on the music: he'd really want to hear it)
Like I've been saying for a while now, this is something I want to take to the n-th degree, but with a full time job it might take a while. I'll have a playable build up as soon as it is ready and then I'll ask for some feedback, hope you enjoy the vids in the meantime
Proto-webpage for 6-Fold Mass Production for more info and some more screenshots
Or something related.
Very happy to get this out to you all (even with the focused feedback coming on Wednesday)
Webplayer build of 6x Mass Production
Links to the webplayer version of 6-Fold Mass Production with tutorial level set and some challenge levels.
Let me know what you think, please! Reply here or I put a feedback button in game. Your input is very much appreciated!
I am aware of the graphical glitches here and there especially things popping in and out on the first frame (had to prioritize more important bugs for now - if you are interested you can look at my very messy trello board). So my point is that feedback on the play-ability of the game is a priority but I'll take any comments you might have.
There are also a bunch of things I got feedback on for the early prototype that I still want to put in but haven't had time to. Been a long slog doing this all in my spare time, it's only at a stage now where I felt I could give it out to the world and not worry about it being an experience whereby I have to be on hand to help out or have to leave special instructions.
It's very late/early so I'm too tired to put this on my actual website instead of the generic html page on dropbox. Tomorrow's problem. Also want to upload a video and a PC/Mac/Linux build for those who don't want to mess with the webplayer. I'll be making a new post (maybe a separate topic) with much more detail on the alpha, the plan ahead (i.e. what features that will be added) and why I don't think RoboBees route is exactly where I want this game to go (@dislekcia) :p
For now thank for the original feedback and any additional feedback you might have!