This is the third part of the "Game in a Week with AI tools" challenge. Read the previous parts on my Telegram channel.
As usual, this part took a little more time than planned, but the following has already been accomplished:
- All the basic mechanics of the main gameplay;
- All the meta-gameplay;
- All animations;
- All sounds and melodies are also ready and added to the project.
Now comes the most interesting part: creating cool levels and engaging the player's emotions through balance and curve interest. But that will be covered in the next part. For now, let me show in detail what has already been done.
Main Gameplay
As a reminder, I chose the blast mechanic, which involves finding blocks of the same color and clicking on them.
Based on the number 1 game in this genre, Toon Blast, which rakes in $10 million every month:
I listed what I needed to do:
- Basic block destruction mechanics
- Objectives for the number of destroyed blocks
- A bomb booster that explodes neighboring blocks
- Rockets that destroy an entire row of blocks
And, I've done exactly that:
I don't see the point in showing the code, it's huge, and explaining each line would take too long. This isn't a programming blog, after all. But if you also code in Construct 3, I can give you some tips in private messages.
No puzzle can exist without boosters, as they simplify level completion, meaning the player will pay for them.
Blast games have three main boosters:
A huge bomb that destroys a bunch of blocks around it
A hammer that breaks a selected block
A cannon that destroys an entire column of blocks
I have also implemented all these boosters:
Of course, the booster icons can be found in a cooler style, but for now, I decided not to bother.
Earning on loss
How it works:
- Losing in blast games means running out of moves before completing all the objectives.
- When all moves are used up, the player is offered to buy an additional 5 moves to avoid losing a life and starting the level over.
- And if there aren't enough coins for the purchase, you are immediately offered an offer for $2.99, which provides both moves and a bunch of other perks, guaranteeing the completion of this and the next ten levels.
That's what I've done:
If the player refuses to buy additional moves, they lose a life. Losing all 5 lives means having to wait for them to be restored or buying them for real currency.
This is how all the top casual games work, and judging by their earnings, it works quite well.
Meta-Gameplay
A lot has been said about the meta in the previous article, so now I'll just show how the destroyed frame is replaced with a repaired one.
Voila:
- Pressed the "Build" button and launched the stars into the building.
- At that moment, the frame with the destroyed building smoothly changes its transparency to 0, that is, simply disappears.
- On top of that, I added smoke particles and the animation of a hammer with a saw.
- When it all disappears, we see the repaired building.
- You can see the entire animation process in the video below.
Gameplay Video
For the video, I deliberately added a lot of moves, stars, and boosters to show all the gameplay possibilities and elevate the entire meta.
For an ordinary player, this entire process will take about 30 times longer.
Write what can be added and improved.
In Total
This part took 4 full days, and in total, it turns out that exactly one week has been spent, and what we have is:
- A fully ready engine for creating levels
- The first location of the meta is fully ready, now it remains to fill it with other villages endlessly
- The store is connected, all that's left is to specify the Google Play ID, and you can start accepting payments.
What's left to do:
Now, to make the game interesting, it is necessary to create levels with various goals and difficulties using the interest curve. This is actually the most interesting and challenging stage that makes the game profitable.
In short, the next article, which will be released on my Telegram channel, will be dedicated to the game balance, dopamine, and body chemistry.
