Throughout the past monthI have been double-checking and triple checking everything about this game.  The game has undergone major changes. The following are the updates:

New Name, New theme

I aimed for something more colourful. Previously, the game was too monochrome and had a story which was mostly text-based. I realised that the story adds little value to the game so I took it out. This meant that I have more time improving the gameplay experience, which is what this game is all about.

I went for a theme that is vibrant, bright and playful, which suits a casual puzzle game that this game is.

I thought long and hard about a name. I wanted a onomatopoeia for a name because the game involves collisions and explosions. I also thought of names for the object you drag in the game. Blocks came to mind but that was too simple. So I (kinda) turned the backwards to make Klob. Eventually, I came up with the name Kloboom.

Meet the Kloboom family!!

Tutorials and more helpful game mechanics

I've created a tutorial going over all aspects of the game. I've also made it so that some KLOBS turn red when they are near anything that they find dangerios - i.e. if they collide with it, it'll be game over and you'll have to start again. The screenshot above illustrates this. 

Better intuitive controls

Initially I wanted controls/mechanics to be slingshot-like (similar to angry birds). Through playtesting, however, I soon found out that this types of controls is not intuitive. It is much better to drag and point to the direction you want the object to go to. Hence, I implemented that.

New Main Menu

Instead of having a generic main menu like every other game, I opted for something different. This involves buttons floating around

Animations everywhere

I tried to make everything in the game move because it looks and feels interesting. For example, if you click on a Klob/Klobie, it animates by sizing up and down, which also acts as player feedback. Even UI elements like the “You lose” message is animated.  Here are some animated GIFs: https://imgur.com/a/vwAgk.

Timeline so far...

Basic Prototyping: I coded the main functionality of the game and made a few sprites.

My first ever Finished prototype: I went for a matrix-like theme. I concentrsted too heavily on the theme of coding an named the game initially OPLUS, which is a fictional programming language. I also made a story related to the game. However, I got the impression that the theme seemed bit boring too most people.

The present : Is what you see at the very top.

What I believed helped me so far:

• Being part of a gamejam - This gave me a goal to finish a game (or try to) before a deadline. As a result, i got a ton of things done although the game itself was far buggy at the time. Plus, gamejam communities are lively, social and very helpful - it keeps you going.
• Concentrating on one key mechanic - As a beginner gamedev, i fealt that adding more mechaincs will be adding more code= more complexity.
• Writing and planning code before anything else - This game is a very code-heavy game. Knowing this, I started writing code down on Notepad++, to build a framework that will minimise bugs. From past experiance of failed unreleased prototypes, I gave up because I was unable to combine different events/mechanics together in script.
• Make multiple external backups/Google Drive or equivalent - just in case computer freezes.
• Learning simple photoshoping/inkscape.

What I would've done differently:

• Think about the target platform beforehand - I beleive the mechanics of my game will suit android/ios users. However, I made it for the PC, Mac of Linux. The possibilty is there for deploying to mobile but a lot of tweeks are needed.
• Start smaller - I thought this project was small. I have not yet finished making a game. Starting off with something like a pong or flappy bird variant could have acted as a first step to finishing a game quicker.
• Question some of my game designs - For example, I initially included a story in my puzzle game as well as jumpscares. It took me a while to realise that they dont add anything to the overall experiance.

In the next coming week or two I plan to playtest the game thoroughly and make necessary changes. One thing I definately need to focus on is music. Depending on the feedback, I will formulate a roadmap that will keep you updated till the game’s launch. Ideally I would like to release it on PC (possibly android/ios) before June.