Let’s take care of the last point in my second hand musings series. 

That is to make a shareable game.

According to my notes I first wrote this entry on the twentieth of May. Today is the thirteenth of August. It has taken a while, not because it was difficult to write, but because I didn’t have a final result to provide. But before that, what is a shareable game anyway? It is a game which is easy to share a snippet of gameplay (in the form a screenshot, GIF or short video) with someone who only has a moment or two. To do this your game needs to be able to communicate its strong points with little context. Whatever the form, when you show someone your little sample the game should make them want to pick up your game and play (if it is their kind of game anyway). This means it is easy to put on a social platform, but it applies just as much if you are talking to someone in real life about your game. 

The idea of this blog entry came from the First Tree video I have mentioned in a previous entry. The creator of the First Tree intentionally looked for ways to be able share his game as he developed it so it had a fan base before it was released. He is definitely not unique - it seems to be a necessity these days - which is why when I watched a GDC talk about Terra Nil it reminded me of the last of the topics I wanted to talk about in the series.

I discovered Terra Nil last year from the ABC classical radio (they have a video game music program) and from both the description of the game and its music I knew I had to play it. So when I saw the talk I was already interested. Tera Nil is a reverse city builder - instead of despoiling nature to build your empire you bring life back to a barren wasteland. You still use buildings to do this, but at the end you have to recycle everything you’ve created. Tera Nil initially was an entry in Ludum Dare game jam, which it did well enough for the creators to look into making it a full game. Even the screen shots of the game jam version would have made me want to play it. I will note that since Game Jams run on a tight deadline they essentially require this shareable nature to really succeed - something that was evident as it was number one in best graphics that year. The next step in the shareable journey for Terra Nill was a free demo based on the Game Jam they posted on itch.io. From that they gathered player feedback and refined the game until it was released. To summarise:

• Created a prototype to gauge interest. (Game Jam version).
• Had a unique factor which made them stand out.
• Provided a free demo to gain feedback.
• Refined on their ideas over time, ensuring everything was to fit the core experience of the game.

Illic has essentially failed at these four points. My latest project Jelly Pong is more shareable even though I have worked for much less time. Jelly Pong has been shown at AIE’s open days (at least it was the year I was a guest speaker). In my experience as well it is a game which when people see it, they want to play it. I’m not saying I am sitting on an amazing commercial success. The point is that you can’t control what other people will take interest in. I am including myself in that as well. I’ll say that again - you can’t control what people take interest in, especially yourself.

I am far more interested in working on Illic than I am Jelly Pong - even though with some polish and good marketing it could possibly make some advertisement money. That just isn’t where my interests lie however. I want to spend my time making a game I like. Originally I had wanted to accompany this entry with a great success story of how I revamped combat so I could make it look more exciting and more shareable. I didn’t have anything like that in May and I didn’t have anything when I edited some time between now and then. I have added art for the dragon sisters' dragon form. I can now display different dialogue based on various conditions to provide tips you need to get started with the game. I don't think this makes Illic shareable, but I think that is okay. It is progress and that for many years was the unreachable dream. I want to do justice to the game which I have spent so long. I want to start my next game with a smile.

Until Next Time.