How Wrecking Bullet was Made

Hi there!

This is jam is the first time I've submitted a game to a game jam, and the first time I've published a game. I'm pretty happy with how this game turned out so I wanted to write about how this game came to be.

CORE MECHANICS
My idea is not the most original one, but I wanted to focus on implementation instead of originality so I went with a 'one bullet' game. I've always loved those games with bouncy bullets wreaking havoc around a small map. I thought it would be fun to try to make a game where you had to catch that bullet while its bouncing around like that.

CONTROLS
The reason why I decided to use the cursor for movement was that it seemed to me the best way to get fast and responsive movements from the player. Using the WASD or arrow keys, I felt like I couldn't change directions as fast and I did not want to slow down the game because of that.

BULLET LIFESPAN
While I was working on the prototype, I tried to think of a way to encourage players to actually catch the bullet. It wouldn't be much fun if all you had to do was shoot it once and just watch it wreak havoc.  I decided to give the bullet some sort of lifespan and the player had to get it before that lifespan reached zero. I played with ideas like the bullet escaping the map, or the bullet slowing down over time. 

I eventually settled with the bullet slowing down AND losing a 'life point' each time it hits an enemy. I feel that this mechanic works well with the catching mechanic since, after a while, the player has to both avoid enemies and try to catch the bullet. Since the bullet also slows down, the player has a greater chance of catching it and can restart the havoc wreaking all over again. However, a big problem with this mechanic I think, is it is at odds with the scoring system, where players get more points for hitting multiple enemies in a row. (Basically the players aren't allowed to shoot at more than seven enemies, despite being encouraged to shoot as many enemies in a row as possible).

SLOW MOTION
Perhaps my favorite mechanic in this game is the slow motion effect. I decided to implement it when I found the shooting to be at odds with the controls. Since both movement and aim is controlled by the mouse, every time I tried to click in the direction of an enemy, the player character would move to it as well, resulting in a game over most of the time. Implementing the slow motion aiming (which at the same time stops movement) with the right click allowed me to aim properly, leading to some extremely satisfying shots. Unfortunately, I feel that I wasn't able to make players aware enough that this was something they could do. This was a huge misstep on my part since I do feel that this mechanic improves the game dramatically.

MAP DESIGN

While play testing the original prototype, which took place in an empty rectangular map, the bullet would frequently just bounce side to side in a straight line. This made for some boring moments. I tried to make the map octagonal instead, so that there would be more angled sides. I eventually found that it wasted too much space (space that was desperately needed for this game) so I went back to the rectangular design, but incorporating the octagon in the inner walls instead. This way, the space is maximized, but there is still enough angled walls for the bullet to bounce off of.

AESTHETICS and AUDIO
I chose the neon lights look because it was simple enough to implement (and there was a book right next to my desk which had a similar design).  The glass breaking sound when an enemy or the player dies is supposed to be neon lights breaking. The music, made by my friend,  was better than I could have hoped. I feel as though I didn't explain to her what I needed very well since I don't know much about music. She couldn't play the game either since we were working online and the prototypes I made wouldn't work on her laptop. Despite that, the music still jives surprisingly well with the feel of the game. Because of this, I also asked her to make some sound bytes from the soundtrack for the sound effects (specifically the sound effects for shooting, game over, and, catching the bullet).  This allowed the sound effects to be played over and over again along with the music without disrupting it too much. Since we only had time to make one track, I just changed the pitch and volume of the music during the start menu and the game over screen to differentiate the states of the game. I also used the same trick for when the player is in slow motion mode.

Aaaannnd that's about it. I feel like I made a lot of mistakes, did a lot of new things, and in doing these, learned a lot from this game jam.  Thanks to the GMTK team for setting this up! 

Hopefully, I'll be publishing more games on Itch soon (game jam or otherwise).