PILLS OF INSIGHT

A modest blog about my journey in the games industry

Proposing an idea effectively

When proposing an idea for a game, I think it's good to have a template to follow that makes the idea clear.

Having a template accomplishes two things:

  • It standarizes the format of the proposals
  • It can lead to more thinking to fill in all the fields

In my case, I use a template with the following:

  • What: Description of the idea
  • Why: What problem is solving
  • How: A brief description on how to implement it
  • Examples: Examples of use covering multiple cases
  • Alternatives: Another ideas that could solve the same problem

As the one who's proposing the idea, it's a good way to start typing and avoid blank paper syndrome.
As a team, it can help to communicate the idea and also make meetings more streamlined.

I've made a template in Notion which you can duplicate. It's a Kanban board that contains an example (which you can also find below) and the basic columns that a proposals board should have.

Link to the Notion template

Here is an example on how to approach this methodology.

Add input assistance to Mario’s jump

What

Add an accessibility feature that helps players accomplishing hard jumps

Why

There are certain levels where the skill cap is way too high for our target audience and can lead to frustration.
Adding assistance for certain jumps can avoid this frustration, but it must be unnoticeable so the player keeps thinking it is their merit to have made the jump successfully

How

When Mario approaches a cliff and press jump, before the jump force is applied, a parabola will be calculated to estimate the force required to make the jump correctly.
Then, the player’s jump will be calculated and, if the difference between the parabolas is within a threshold defined by the designer, the pre-calculated force will be applied instead of the player's input.

Examples

  • Mario is half a unit before the cliff and the player presses [JUMP] for 0.1 seconds. The system estimates the necessary input duration (which translates to jump force) to be 0.3 seconds. As it is within the threshold, the assisted jump is applied.
  • Mario is 2 units before the cliff and the player presses [JUMP] for its maximum duration. The system estimates the required jump force is twice the maximum. As it exceeds the threshold, the assisted jump is not applied.

Alternatives

  • Change level design ro remove hard jumps.
  • Reduce the penalty for missing a jump.
  • Add double-jump.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me through email or Twitter