staff0rd Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 My second HTML5 game, and my first in collaboration with @TM999, Honey Shot is a bionic commando inspired casual climber for all ages. The game is fairly easy to start off, but gets more difficult the higher you get. It has a range of aesthetic unlocks that can be earnt via in-game currency collection, and on mobile platforms, integration with Achievements and Leaderboards. The skill curve of the game is interesting, I get a little better each time I play, although some players have already got scores well over what I thought was even possible. The game uses pixijs v4 for rendering, GreenSock Animation Platform for pretty much all movement, and howlerjs for sound. Play on Web Play on iOS Play on Google Play Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattstyles Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 Really great work @staff0rd. I had one little issue, the replay button did not work so I had to go back to home, then play again, which, kudos to you, I wanted to do! Hopefully no biggy for you to fix. I'm using Chrome if that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staff0rd Posted September 8, 2016 Author Share Posted September 8, 2016 @mattstyles Yeah, I might need some better communication on that button - it's a continue button and there's a cost associated with continuing. You can press it, but it will only continue from where you left of if you have enough of the in-game currency stashed to afford it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattstyles Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 @staff0rd Ah ha, I was wondering something along those lines, yep, some comms would sort that out, although a dedicated restart button would be good too, get people straight back to playing the game. It's a game of frustration, if you're having fun and it beats you then your initial thought is to get back in there and show it who's boss, I don't want to break my flow and head back out to the menu, get distracted by a new unlockable, because I might lose my frustration and enthusiasm to get back in and go do something else (away from your game), let me click one button on the death screen and get right back to teaching this game a lesson! I'll head back out to the home screen when I need a little break, at my own pace, I shouldn't be forced to head out there only to head back in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staff0rd Posted September 10, 2016 Author Share Posted September 10, 2016 @mattstyles Interesting - I had purposely made the replay process go through the homescreen (and the first unlock cost 1 currency) such that a user who completed their first game would be alerted to the presence of the unlocks feature (it has an animation on the homescreen when unlocks can be afforded). I guess a play button and a button that forwards to the unlocks screen from the gameover screen is a possibility - though that would increase the complexity of the gameover screen from two actions to four (five including facebook like). I have had others comment regarding going through the homescreen for replay - I had just assumed it wasn't really an issue considering the speed at which the screens change, however your distraction point seems quite valid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattstyles Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 I think you raise a valid point about alerting the user that something has changed on the home screen, possibly consider adding a badge to the home button, maybe a little star or something in the top right corner of the icon that is obvious enough that it alerts the user but the user still has the choice to ignore and continue playing (which would be your primary course of action for a user surely) or go and explore their new stuff (secondary). What are your four buttons? I dont follow. I'd probably suggest 3, a 'play again', a 'home' and a 'shortcut to upgrades/settings', with the badge/star appearing on the upgrades button to denote a change there. 3 isn't overwhelming for the user and I'd put them in that order (at least in countries where we read left to right) so that your primary action is first, you want people playing right? The begging actions, social likes, I think make sense where you already have them as a separate course of action. Of course I expect social gurus would insist you make more of that like button but I'm unsold on the benefits of social sharing for many activities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staff0rd Posted September 10, 2016 Author Share Posted September 10, 2016 The button you're missing is the 'Continue from where I was' button which costs currency, as 'play again' would restart your height/score from zero. Adding an unlocks shortcut to the gameover screen adds minor complexity - if reaching the screen via gameover, should leaving the screen revert back to the gameover, or back to the home screen and if so (or not) how to communicate this to the user. Adding a 'play again' button and adding an 'unlock available' indicator to the 'home' button would keep the button count at three (including the 'continue' one above). The messaging is slightly different in this scenario, as the user would reach the gameover screen after the first playthrough, see the home button for the first time and it would already have the indicator on it due to the playthrough. However, if the same indicator is used on the gameover 'home' button as is used on the home 'unlock' button, then possibly the relationship is registered so the user can make an informed decision the next time they reach the gameover screen. At some stage (based on how well the user initially plays) the indicator will not be visible. Although, while I certainly agree with both the need for a play again' button, and it being the primary action on the screen, now I wonder whether the unlock indicator detracts from that primary flow. During development I discussed with my collaborator what, if any, benefits were leveraged with social integrations, and we settled on "unsure if any". The like button is especially mysterious - I'm pretty unsure as to what it's point is. I have an idea of how I want to attempt to use it in a future title, however for now I wanted to test what happens when it's just sitting there. In the first week, 1000 or so players played the game, and about 200 of them played it more than once. Of that, 3 people clicked the Like - go figure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattstyles Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 Isn't UX fun? Ha ha! Good idea regarding the social stuff, suck it and see, its the only way to be objective about your decisions. staff0rd 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staff0rd Posted September 15, 2016 Author Share Posted September 15, 2016 @mattstyles We went with continue, play, and home w/ unlock indicator. Check out the gameover screen, I think it's a lot better now. Appreciate the feedback Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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