Replicator - Version 0.1B7

Today is the day that I am starting an official documentation of the game I am currently working on as a side project. The game's working name is Replicator. After designing the initial concepts and building a few basic levels to introduce those concepts I thought it was time to make an official build and share what I've learned so far with the world. 

The Concept

Replicator, at its core, is a puzzle/strategy game that revolves around feeding "Repli" in order to meet certain criteria within each level. Levels will be handcrafted with specific goals that the player will be tasked with completing. These goals currently are fairly generic, but I hope to build more creative ideas as the development process progresses.

Version 0.1 - Overview

With this first build of Replicator I wanted to get some of the basic functionality working. I didn't care too much about game balance or world design I just wanted to know that things were doing what they were supposed to be doing. Here's a few of the key points that I was able to accomplish with this build. 

• Six different levels designed around different mechanics
  • Level 1: Introduces the idea of replication
  • Level 2: Introduces the idea of mutation
  • Level 3: Challenges the player to create a mutation of a mutant. 
  • Level 4: Builds on the previous skills by asking the player to reach a certain population of three different mutations
  • Level 5: Introduces color specific building locations
  • Level6: Introduces poisonous food that will kill Repli if they eat too much
• Ability to feed Repli
• Repli will clone themselves when they eat their color food
• Repli will mutate to a mutation color when eating that color food
• Food spawners are limited to nodes (some of which are color specific)
• Player dies when no more Repli exist
• Yellow food is poison and will kill Repli if they eat too much of it
• Designed a rough main menu and level selection screen
• Tied everything together to allow for simple navigation and replay

Version 0.1 Reflection

Considering the early state of the game I'm not expecting much here, but I do want to point out one specific area that I want to focus on improving in the next couple of versions: fun.

The current state of the game feels more like a chore rather than offering fun puzzle like elements. A lot of this I think is due to the lack of proper balance and placeholder art, but there are some areas where the game could become more tedious than enjoyable. 

The most obvious area from my time playing the game is the interaction between the Repli and the food. It currently feels very rigid and lifeless. With this mechanic being such a core element of the game I really think it's important to address this at this point in the development and work towards improvement sooner rather than later. 

Next Planned Release: Version 0.2 July 20th

I will be hosting a number of friends and family towards the end of July and my goal is to use them to get some early feedback on the state of the game. In that regard I want to focus on fleshing out the currently available levels and mechanics as well as putting a primary focus for version 0.2 on creating a fun game play experience within the small amount of levels I currently have. 

There are a number of additional features that are currently targeted for 0.2, but they may be pushed to a later build in order to ensure that this build will be stable enough to be playable.

I'll be sharing more frequent updates over on my Patreon page as well as @JohnsGameDev on twitter. If you have any interesting ideas, suggestions or want to help out send me a message! 

Until next time. <3 John.