Difficulty levels Im almost done recalibrating and retesting all the levels so that the game offers more of a challenge, rather than allowing the player to breeze through the levels without giving it much thought. However, Im aware that there are bound to be some players, including young children, who would rather just follow the tracks to the quarry without having to discover and learn the shortcuts. So, with this in mind, Ill be implementing two difficulty levels, normal and easy. The game will default to normal difficulty so that players can play the game as it was meant to be played, but if they find it too hard, or if a young child will be playing, easy mode will be selectable which will allow more time to find the quarry. As a result, though, fewer points will be awarded so that a perfect run will only award two stars rather than three. Also, each difficulty mode will have its own level progression, so that unlocking a level in easy mode will not unlock the corresponding level in normal mode. I haven't implemented this yet, so before I do, does anyone have any comments about it, either for or against?
I would really appreciate an easy difficulty mode. My 4-yr old is going to love this game and I would hate for him to get frustrated while playing it.
Sounds good to me! Definitely should enable it to be kid-friendly since it features cute and cuddly animals. But why not add a hard mode, too?
I must admit, I'd been thinking about what you'd said previously about your son playing it and during the second round of testing I realised that he probably wouldn't be able to finish the levels once it started to get harder. Beyond the early levels, there's naturally a fuzzy line between being too easy for hard core gamers, yet too hard for casual gamers, so I came to realise that it's probably not possible to have a 'one time fits all' difficulty mode.
Hard mode is a possibility, although getting three stars in all 50 levels won't be a walk in the park in normal mode, by any means... lol For now, I think I'll go with just easy and normal at release and see how players get on with those, and consider adding a hard mode in a future update should players want it.
You're awesome and that's why I'll definitely be buying and recommending your game when it comes out!
Updated difficulty levels Having playtested some more and taking into account that the vast majority of players are likely to be casual gamers, I've decided to have three levels of difficulty after all, promoting what I previously called 'normal' difficulty to 'hard'. Easy: Plenty of time to spare when following the 'correct' trails, but scoring limited to 1 star Medium: Just enough time to follow the 'correct' trails plus a little leeway, but scoring limited to 2 stars Hard: Not enough time to follow the 'correct' trails, so shortcuts will be necessary, but all 3 stars achievable This way, young children can play on 'easy', casual gamers can play on 'medium', hard core gamers can play on 'hard'... and hopefully everyone is happy... lol Incidentally, by 'correct' trails, I mean that if the member of Team Quarry that you're following has been crafty and has doubled back and produced more than one trail, effectively giving you a choice of trail to follow, the latest of those trails is deemed to be the 'correct' one. Following the earlier trail in 'medium' mode, then, will effectively waste some time and may well be enough to allow the quarry to escape. As for high scores, there only needs to be one set of high score tables for all three difficulty modes, since completing a level as fast as possible in 'easy' mode, for instance, is guaranteed not to score higher than completing it as fast as possible in 'medium' (or 'hard') modes. The scoring itself, by the way, is based on how much time you have left on the clock once you catch the quarry, multiplied by a weighting factor, such that the harder the mode, the more points you earn for each second remaining. So, by shaving off even a fraction of a second from your best time you can improve your score and potentially move up the rankings. As an example, if you usually play on 'medium' mode and you've done an almost perfect run on level 17 and got 807 points, you might like to try the same level on 'hard' mode and try to get a higher score. You'll have less time to start with, so you'll need to find some shortcuts to claw back some of that time, but each second you do save will be worth more than in 'medium' mode. So, even if you don't ace it (with a score of over 1000 points), you still might do pretty well and get a higher score, say, 875 points.
New poll and amendments to previous post I've pretty much implemented the three difficulty modes now, although I still need to playtest the easy and medium modes in order to set the correct time limits. As a result, one or two things have changed since my previous post, so you might like to re-read the edited version of that one (#27) first. I've also added a polls page to the Animal Trackers development blog, where anyone can vote (no login required). At present, is has both the control method poll that appears at the top of this thread, and also a new one about difficulty modes.
Map Screenshots and Difficulty Modes I thought I'd post a few screenshots to show how the level selection map screen and difficulty modes work. By tapping on the button at the top right of the screen, you can cycle through the 'Easy', 'Medium' and 'Hard' modes. This causes the numbered level selection buttons to display the current progress for the chosen difficulty mode. So, in the image above, easy mode progress is being shown and all levels up to and including level 5 have been unlocked. The maximum number of stars that can be earned per level here is just one. In this image, levels 1 through 4 have been unlocked in medium mode. Here, up to two stars can be earned. And in this image, levels 1 through 3 have been unlocked in hard mode. Here, all three stars can be earned. When you select a level, the numbered level button grows to show more info: And when you've aced the level, i.e. earned all three stars and retrieved the egg, the level button turns into a solid gold egg:
Release date As well as playtesting the new difficulty modes, I've been able to tick a few other things off the 'to do' list, to the point where the amount of work still to do is, relatively speaking, pleasingly small. So as a result, I'm now confident that Animal Trackers will be ready for submission to Apple sometime in March.
Just an awesome concept here. hope you pull it off. Seems accessible design too. And you added a meercat too. Cool. On the poll I voted d-pad, as I can visualize what that control method entails more easily ie quick response to change in direction, assuming it's circular-movement stick for greater change-of-direction response eg fifa12? Touching the screen could work if the animal homes in the direction where your finger is in touch-contact with the screen. but need to check how comfortable that is to play with and how sensitive turning can be achieved with it? Maybe showcase the 3 options/playtest would provide the best feedback as poll still requires some interpretation on how it'd work in practice? Hope the "tricks" are imaginative eg double-backing trails, going up/down water streams etc!
Thanks for the comments. As for the meerkat, it's not a true animal game if it doesn't have at least one. I haven't played FIFA 12, so I don't know how those controls work, but in Animal Trackers in d-pad mode, wherever you place down your thumb on the screen, that becomes the 'neutral' position. If you don't move your thumb, the tracker won't move. If you then slide your thumb to the right, the tracker will move right and if you immediately slide it back past the 'neutral' position so that it's now left of it, the tracker will stop, turn on the spot and then move left. I've included a small 'dead zone' around the neutral position, so that you can actually stop without lifting off your thumb, and also implemented subtle acceleration / deceleration to the movements, so that changes of direction don't jar. It's a full 360 degree analogue d-pad, so you can guide the tracker precisely where you want. In order to make the game fair across all three control methods, ultimately, all directional input is translated into 'finger-point' data. So, as far as the game engine is concerned, all it knows is which point on the screen the tracker should head towards. As for turning sensitivity, turning is immediate, subject to the small accelerational change that I mentioned earlier and a 180 degree spin-on-the-spot rotation of 0.2 seconds. I found this to be the best compromise between smooth animation and responsive direction change. In practice, though, the tracker just goes where you want when you want. Well, all three methods have now been implemented and are selectable from the options, so hopefully everyone will be able to find one that they prefer. Coincidentally, I actually updated the game description text on entry #1 of this thread this morning to include some more info about that... "Be prepared for doubled-back trails, trails disappearing down holes, multiple trails, trails that cross water, hedges that need to be hacked, boulders that need to be moved, switches that need to be flipped, snow that will slow you down and sand dunes that need to be negotiated... these are just some of the obstacles you'll be confronted with... plus in 'hard' mode, you'll have less time to do it in, so shortcuts will also need to be found." Thanks again for the comments, I appreciate the feedback.
Thanks for the info. Sounds like you have 1) controls (3 options, sensitive response to direction) and 2) smooth animations/transitions tightly wrapped up. That's key for sure, so even if a player makes a mistake it is indeed THEIR mistake and the char's body-language is relaying that info effectively (ie both positive/negative feedback drives the fun!). In terms of more visual feedback, when the player is following the trail & slips off it a bit maybe the creatures nose gives a small glow when returning to back on track and another slightly brighter glow when accuracy is further optimized while doing a good job/continiously following the trail? In contention to this, perhaps to add to the tricks mentioned above/challenge level, it would seem an obvious question if at all the "trail goes cold" and the tracks begin to fade AWAY slowly from the player, if not followed rigorously enough/hard mode option(?)? Finally I read some more on your blog (& bookmarked it!), so another question: Are the trails always laid down in the same places, or do they randomize over each levels sometimes, so routines can be mixed up, even if "local knowledge" of each level will still improve with each play session ie short-cut finding/watch out for that annoying rock et al.? I don't know a whole load about the game, yet, but guess it's player job to give the devs more than they bargained for! Really like everything so far
In the early days of development, I had thought of implementing some kind of indicator for such a purpose, but as the game progressed, the concept of false trails and shortcuts arose. As a result, such an indicator would have tended to counteract the challenge of discovering which of several trails was the correct trail to follow. Also, in 'hard' mode, the player needs to find as many shortcuts as possible which means he/she will be spending most of their time off the trail rather than directly on it, in order to shorten the distance travelled. Incidentally, there is an indirect way of knowing if you're following the wrong trail by looking at the progress indicator at the top right of the screen. If whilst following a trail you notice that the tracker indicator isn't moving any closer to the quarry indicator, then you're following the wrong trail. This way, there's some feedback if you find yourself going round in circles, without it giving the game away as soon as you put a step wrong. I'll answer this in the next section. In order to make the game repeatable and high scores comparable, the trails are always laid in the same place. However, it's not just a case of remembering where the quarry was found the previous time, ignoring the trail and then running straight to that point as fast as you can, because the quarry won't be there. The easiest way to think about what's going on is this: Each time the same level is played, as far as the tracking animal is concerned, it's the first time it's following the trail, so it doesn't know where the quarry is. So, it has to run pretty close to the trail, all the way from start to finish, to be able to sense (see / smell) where the quarry has been. As a result, each successive part of the trail is only revealed as the tracker detects it and the quarry itself is only revealed if the tracker has detected every part of the trail from start to finish. So, to answer your earlier question about fading trails, the trails are effectively invisible to start with and actually fade IN as the tracker detects them, but I guess I could also slowly fade out the ones that have already been found when there are just a few seconds left on the clock. Good idea, thanks. Edit: I've now implemented the fading out of the trail over the last five seconds of the level and it does add a sense of urgency when playing the game.
^The above explains the game v well. Chuffed the discussion was worth something! I could suggest further, if the trail disappears due to a "trick" perhaps some other tracking signs could be looked for by the player to search for cues of an animal's recent passage eg snapped twigs on trees, rustling leaves... indicating a new trail. That's usually something you would find in an animal tracking guide...hehe! Trivia of the Day: Kalihari Bushmen are pro trackers ftw!
Thanks for the suggestions. The 'snapped twigs on trees' one actually helped on a few levels where previously I had to have the squirrel come down from the canopy more often just to leave a ground-level trail to let the player know they were still on track, but now with modified tree graphics to show breaks in the tree canopy where the squirrel had broken through, fewer ground trails are necessary. Thanks. I read your post last night and ended up doing the graphics and reworking the levels before I went to bed after 3am... lol This morning, I added code for a 'special thanks' section to the info panel in the game, to which I'd like to put the names of those people who have helped in the development of the game in some way. And seeing as you've already contributed two features in as many days, I think you deserve to be on the list.
And since it was as a direct result of your comments with regards to your son being able to play the game that I implemented the three difficulty modes, I think you (and your son) deserve to go on the 'special thanks' list, too.
That's very generous, but don't you mean "people that made this take so long thus keeping food off my table and forcing me into a world of ramen noodles and long nights locked in my office"? Seriously, though, thanks a ton. I hope this game does well for you. If you can get @doomfan on your side, you should see a lot of sales. I know a lot of people around here love seeing GameCenter, iCloud, and social sharing (posting scored to FB and Twitter) in their games. I don't remember if Animal Trackers has those but it would be nice to have on day 1. Momentum is hard to regain after day 1.
Social Networking Woes Animal Trackers currently has GameCenter support, with leaderboards and achievements, but I'm still looking into the logistics of supporting Facebook and Twitter. In fact, I've just wasted a whole morning trying to set up a developer account for Facebook, but without success. The Animal Trackers facebook account is a 'page' account (as opposed to a personal user account) and as such does not seem eligible to be used as a developer account (which is just crazy). So, I created a personal account with my real name, personal email, date of birth, just so I could access the developer portal. But during that process, I get a message saying FB thinks I've entered fake details and so I must verify the account. So, I go to the appeal page, enter my mobile number, get sent a text with the code, enter the code, and it lets me back into the account. But when I try to create an app, it says it thinks I'm fake again, but this time it wants me to send a colour photo of my government id / passport! I'm sorry, but that is just ludicrous! There is no way I'm selling my soul to Facebook just so that Animal Trackers can have FB integration, so unless I can get it to accept me some other way, there won't be FB integration. I've still to look into Twitter and iCloud integration, so hopefully those processes will be more reasonable.
