Genres In Games

I have taken into account that different types of genres of games are designed in different ways as they are made to cater for different experiences. I also have understood the importance of prototyping and playtesting your game in order to understand what is going well or bad with that current build. All the games I've made for this section was made with Stencyl game engine!

Wasabi Hero (Shoot em up)

The basic story is that the main character's (Red Paddle) parents have been kidnapped by a Space Lord seeking revenge on Earth. So Red Paddle uncovers a space cruiser and sets off to fight the Space Lord's army of sushi aliens!

Creating a feature list can be a very useful tool when designing a game as it helps us organize our priorities when it comes to a game's features. We can see from the above Google Sheet that I have categorized each game feature under "must have features", "good to have" and "nice to have" and to define each of them:

"Must have" These are features that are core to the game that we are designing, so in this particular case I am creating a shoot 'em up I came up with these:
- Player's Avatar
- Enemy Shooting
- Player Shooting
- Targets
- Player Movement
- Bullets/Projectiles
"Good to have" As for this category I define these features as those that would strengthen the core experience of the game but is not necessarily needed to create the experience. I managed to implemented these features:
- Bosses
- Special Abilities
- Powerups & Traps
- Enemy Buffing
- Tutorial
- GUI
"Nice to have" These are generally features that don't add onto the core experience but it introduces different aspects that are not the core elements of the game's genre. I have managed to include:
- Simple Storyline
- Sound & Music
- Simple Cutscenes

Throughout this process I have found that these features prove to work well for a shoot em up game. Playtesting the game has allowed me to assess each of the features as well as get some opinions on new possible features. I compile each of the playtests weekly into a document to keep record of them.

Playtesting (Week 4)

Playtest Notes

Reducing the enemy shooting rate seems to regulate the difficulty.
Playtesters recommend adding an explosion VFX for the bullet impacts.
Playtesters keep trying to touch the powerup instead of shooting them.

End Product?

Overall I think this game turned out alright since it at least has the core features of a shoot em up game. I enjoyed being more creative about it and adding a story to it to increase the immersion.

Dead Punch (Beat em up/Roguelike/Adventure

For this game I challenged myself my trying to combine three different genres all together into a single game. For the first 4 weeks I decided to focus on creating a beat em up game. So for this build I wanted the player to be in a level where they have to kill a certain amount of enemies without dying in order to win the game.

This time around I've improved the look of the feature list by using more colors so it's easier to spot things out. I have also included a clear outline for each cell so that the separation is clearer.

"Must have" Features

- Player Movement
- Enemy Movement
- Player Punching
- Enemy Attack
- Player Health
- Enemy Health
- Level #1
- Tutorial Level

Main "Good to have" Features

- Timer
- Player Health Bar
- Player Stamina
- Enemy Waves
- Player Score
- Player Hit Counter
- Level BGM
- Victory/Lose Screen
- VFX/SFX
- Main Menu Level

"Nice to have" Features

- Random Enemy Names

Playtesting (Week 4)

For the first 4 weeks of playtesting I have improved the method I do them. I have decided to also use color to highlight things to show the good and bad points from what I've observed.

Negative Notes

Player stamina does not work well at all for a beat em up game.
The players seem to encounter some scene transition bugs.
Hit counter also seems to be buggy, as it kept resetting randomly.
Playtesters don't seem to feel there's enough enemies in the level.
The kill requirement seems to be too little for players.

Positive Notes

The main menu level seems to be intuitive enough for players. Some mentioned that it helped them get the hang of the controls.
The combat hit boxes seem to work as intended.

Roguelike Genre

For the following 3 weeks I decided to then add on the roguelike elements into my game. So as such I decided to add these features:

"Must have" Features

Randomized levels
Player Jumping
Health Packs
Exit Point

I spent most of my time focusing upon the randomized levels feature as well as the exit point feature. So now the players will spawn in one of three different level layouts. In addition to that the player will also have to do one of two objectives, so they either have to kill a certain amount of enemies or find the exit point in the level.

Playtesting (Week 7)

From week 5-7 playtesting sessions, I had found out these things:

Negative Notes

Need to reduce enemy spawn, players seem to get swarmed too much.
An increase of space in the level, to allow players to traverse easier.

Positive Notes

Players are able to use the controls to walk/jump around the level.
The randomizing of level/item seem to work as intended.
Health packs allows players to last longer.
The objectives both work as intended.

Adventure Genre

For the following 3 weeks I then focused on the final genre which is adventure. I then decided to add these features:

"Must have" Features

In Game Cutscenes With SFX/BGM

"Good to have" Features

Treasure Drops
Victory/Defeat Cutscenes

So I focused on adding cutscenes in the game because I feel that it can establish the world that the player is in. I've taken this idea from point & click adventure games such as The Curse Of Monkey Island. I feel as though these cutscenes can help the player feel more immersed in the game world and help them understand what exactly is going on.

So the story is that your village has been invaded by the dwarfs and as the sole survivor you march over towards the dwarven kingdom with the purpose of revenge.

Playtesting (Week 10)

From week 8-10 playtesting sessions, I had found out these things:

Negative Notes

Some playtesters complained about no skip cutscene button.
Training mode background still hasn't changed.
Health packs spawn inside the platforms.
The walls of some level layouts weren't tall enough, so players can jump over.

Positive Notes

The introduction cutscene works as intended with no bugs.
All SFX and BGM worked as intended.

End Product?

So at the end of this 10 week project I have created this beat em up/roguelike/adventure game. Here's a gameplay video of the final build of the game!

Dead Punch Gameplay Video.avi

Post Game Thoughts

Overall I think that it was an interesting challenge to face and I had some fun with it. I definitely think that some of the mechanics inspired from the different genres clash with the other genres, such as:

The exit point mechanic defeats the point of a beat em up, since you can just skip the fight to win the game.
The timer feature is somewhat contradicting the adventure genre as it provokes the player to rush through the level to get a higher score. So instead of being immersed in the game world, the players are immersed with the combat and somewhat neglect the environment around them.

In conclusion I think that it does function as a game, however there are elements in it that contradict other elements. But nonetheless this was genuinely an interesting project and I've learned more about those genres.

Check out the game by clicking the button below!

Dead Punch Itch.io Page!

Google Sites

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