Vocabutory #1
An Art-Less Game?
I’ve been making games for several years now, but I realized that I’ve never actually shipped a finished product. With a few months left before the first semester at ETC begins, I started thinking if I could launch my first Steam page with a game I made?
It’s definitely a big challenge, especially since I’ll be doing this on my own. That means the game’s art requirements need to be minimal. With that in mind, I came up with a theme that fits perfectly. An idea of a game about creating words to score big points.
A few days later, GMTK uploaded this video. Well, at least now I know this idea has potential.
Playing Crossword to Score Big
I came up with a twist that sets my idea apart from most of the “Balatro-like” word games (of which there are actually quite a few), which is integrating the mechanics of a crossword puzzle. My goal is to design a game where players place words strategically on a board to rack up a huge score. After several days of work, the first prototype was born:
The idea is simple. You spell a word, place it on the board, and earn points. However, during testing, I noticed a big problem. As a non-native English speaker, I kept coming up with only short, easy words. This isn’t what I wanted, because short words are easier to think of and to place, which undermines the challenge. Then I realized that the real challenge I’m looking for isn’t thinking of a word, but figuring out where and how to place a word. So I decided to experiment. What if the game gave the player random words to work with instead?
This is the second prototype. You can see that now random words are presented to the player, who then decides how to place them on the board. I found this version much more fun to play around with — even on a small 9×9 board, I could often use about half of the given words.
But, as with all designs, new problems emerged. For example, how should I present the words? If I display all available words upfront, it becomes overwhelming and takes a long time to plan. On the other hands, limiting the options too much will make player force to make important decision without knowing what the future words will be.
This is particularly important because I plan to add synergy elements to the game later, and if there are already too many options, the gameplay could become overly complex and slow. I even made another version where you earn money by scoring points and then use that money to buy words from a shop. While interesting in theory, it also created another problem. Early word placements often blocked the board, making it much harder (or impossible) to place later words effectively. This is a major design flaw that I need to solve.
The Genre Shift and the Future
My original plan was to make a Balatro-like game, which score points to meet stage goals, earning synergy items along the way to boost your score even further. But as I experimented with different mechanics, I began to wonder:
Is the Balatro-like structure really essential?
So I built a third prototype, this time exploring the idea as an incremental game. My solution was simple. Instead of punishing the player for failing to meet a goal, you just keep scoring points. Your word placement doesn’t cause you to lose, but precise placement helps you score faster. I also made the map unlimited, since the small board in the earlier versions could get frustrating. Now, you can place words wherever you like and watch them generate points, just like a farmer watching his crops grow.
However, after I research about incremental games, I realize an important fact. How the gameplay of incremental game will attract players, and what makes incremental game fun is its numerical design. After several tests through, I believe that the concept of messing around with words is probably the least interesting idea as an incremental game. During this month of development, I realize that I didn’t truly decide what is the core experience needed to be, and I keep changing the basic core design. This definitely not a good sign, and I think that I should give up the idea.
Still, I make the last version of playable prototype. There is still some time for me to make a new game, and I’m still not going to give up yet!