I’m working on my first game EVER. The idea is simple: collect all the keys, dodge the enemies and holding the keys to get to the tube. I made a small prototype, drew the graphics myself, and here’s what I got so far. For convenience, I built an HTML5 version (v 0.31) so you can play it right on my website.

The problem is, I DONT really know how to make players come back to the game. Why would they replay it? Just for fun? A leaderboard? Beating their own record? Or maybe I could generate a new unique level every day from the server (like Leapday game)?

I’d really love some game design advice on what could be a good hook to keep players engaged. I’m sure there are some experienced devs here    Does this game have potential? Would you play something like THIS?

Okay, I see no one's really saying anything here, but I'm still working on the game. I already added three new power-ups that make it a lot easier to get through the levels. You can, as always, play the latest build (v0.32) on my site.

Quick question though - should I add a “fast drop” move for easier control?

Animations look so smooth!

Thx bro. Okey, a week later I'm ready to show a new prototype of the game. You can play on my website. I gathered some player feedback and made two big changes.

First change: I reworked the controls. Let me know if it feels more comfortable now. You can move your hero left and right with the arrow keys, hold both side arrows for a straight boost upward, and the biggest new thing - press the down arrow to make your hero quickly dive down.

Second change: I realized playing alone against random enemies would get boring fast, so I decided to make the game online. For now, you can fight against AI (real players will come later). The prototype is simple: your goal is to collect 12 keys faster than your AI opponent and be the first to fly into the tube. And yes, the enemy will try to stop you. It can:

- crash into you, making both of you lose all keys
- build a strategy based on what's happening on the stage
- use power-ups to block you (or help itself)

Right now I made a simple test level, and I'm really looking forward to your feedback. I think once the gameplay feels good, we can start adding shared enemies on the stage for extra interaction

Hey there, I just played around a bit with your nice little gameplay demo. It plays really well, and the art and sound design are very nice too — I love the cute little ghosts :) One thing I didn’t quite get was the missing use of the “UP” button. I often tried to trigger an upward boost but ended up falling down instead :D Otherwise, I think the game idea could work really well. Did you intend to release it on mobile as well? I could imagine it would work nicely with holding and swiping left and right at the same time — not sure if that’s even possible with Godot, tbh. Love the engine, by the way. Keep up the good work, and let me know if you’d like some additional ideas for gameplay loops or anything :D

stay on the path!

--- The GGG

Thanks a lot for your feedback, GGG. Every comment really matters to me and helps me understand if I'm moving in the right direction. By the way, about the upward boost - it's already there: just hold left + right arrows together. I thought it felt intuitive to do it that way :)

Yes, I'm making the game in Godot 4 and I do plan to release it on mobile too. But I also really love the idea of web games, where anyone like you can instantly jump in and test without installing anything. For now, I'm just trying to find the right direction for the game's growth 

You’ve got a valid point there — a playable demo of the core gameplay seems important to understand the mechanics and to see if they’re actually fun or not. I’m currently working on an HTML demo for my own game. Chronicle of the Tilewalker Dev Build is already online for a few days now, but downloading 400+ MB just to give feedback might be a little too much to ask at the beginning :D Keep up the good work, I am curious to see where this journey takes your game.