Game page: https://evolutionarygames.itch.io/trinkettes-enchanted-journey
I’ve hit an obstacle on my game Trinkette’s Enchanted Journey and would like some input.
Every day consists of three games:
Step 1: In the morning, you sell the goods you made the previous evening. (sales)
Step 2: In the afternoon, you collect more resources. (hidden-object)
Step 3: In the evening, you make goods to sell the next day. (puzzles)
As with other similar casual games, players earn gold, silver or a pass depending on how well they did. With this feature players will want to replay a level if they didn’t get gold. That’s where the problem comes in.
There is a tycoon aspect to the game. Unlike other time-management games where you have unlimited goods to sell, you can only sell what you made. If the goods are sold out, the level ends. Whatever you don’t sell, carries forward to the next level. The game’s strategy is to choose the right goods to make and set the right prices. (If you make the wrong choices, you’ll struggle to sell your goods.)
So, if you replay:
- A sales level, you might have nothing to sell.
- A puzzle, you’ll end up with too many goods and there will be no challenge to the game.
I could save all the game stats after each level, but it will be difficult to run it forward. I also foresee the obstacle where someone made and sold 6 red grape juices. Now they replay the level and decide to make 6 green grape juices instead and will be left with -6 red grape juices.
Possible solutions:
A. You can only replay a level right after you’ve played it – so when you finish the level you get an option to save or restart. This strategy will work for Steps 2 and 3 because you get gold by finding enough items or solving the puzzles without making mistakes. It might not work for Step 1 because Step 1 can be affected by:
- Unsold products from previous levels,
- The products you made the previous evening,
- The prices you set at the start of the level.
B. I don’t award gold or silver so there’s no reason for people to replay a level and I remove that feature. I can insert a high-score table at the end of the game for the in-game money you made. You can replay the entire game to try and make more money. Negative: the tycoon aspect is not the key feature of the game, it’s just a fun element I added to make the game unique. For example, you can accept the default prices if you want.
Any ideas or advice?