Tag: game feel

Juice Up Your Game

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Jan Willem Nijman – Vlambeer – “The art of screenshake”

“Just fill your game with love and tiny details.”

Jan Willem Nijman

The 30 little Tricks from Jan Willem Nijman to Juice up your Game

I collected all the 30 tricks on the youtube video from Jan Willem Nijman in this article. Basically the trick name and a little tiny explanation. It’s actually just for my own convenience. But hey if it’s helpful for you, you are welcome.

1. Basic Animations & Sounds

Makes walking, jumping, picking up things, and shooting more fun. It doesn’t really matter if it’s high quality or simple. It makes it alive.

2. Lower Enemy HP

It’s more fun. It’s super frustrating if you need to shoot ten times on an enemy before he dies, makes your weapon feel feeble and boring.

3. Higher Rate of Fire

It’s a video game about shooting so put more bullets in there. You hardly can overdo it. Really. Just add more bullets. Give your weapon a higher fire rate.

4. More Enemies

Because of juice number 2 you need more enemies to shoot. It’s satisfying if they pop like popcorn.

5. Bigger Bullets

Don’t use realistically sized bullets as it looks so silly, make them big. The player wants to see those badass killer bullets. The weapon feels much more powerful.

6. Muzzle Flash

Just make the first bullet frame a circle. Very simple, very effective.

7. Faster Bullets

Slow bullets are lame, make it faster.

8. Less Accuracy

If your gun is not too accurate it looks more realistic and is more fun.

9. Impact Effects

Let the player know he hit something, don’t just remove the bullets. Like fragments falling off the wall if a bullet hits it or blood strains if a character gets hit by a bullet.

10. Hit Animation

Let the player know that he damaged the enemies. The simplest trick is to make the enemy flat white for a fraction of a second.

11. Enemy Knockback

But knockback force if you hit enemies. Your weapon feels so much more powerful and makes it more realistic from a physical point of view.

12. Permanence

Don’t remove dead bodies, it helps you remember if you come back in a room with a huge pile of dead bodies in it.

13. Camera Lerp

Smoother cameras make the character feel more in motion.

14. Camera Position

Your camera focus on important things in your video game. This is one of the hardest part and takes a lot of trials and testing.

15. Screen Shake

This is an important rule add screen shake on explosions it looks so much more powerful than without.

16. Player recoil

Shooting feels much more powerful with recoil on the player and you can use it to avoid that player do not shoot all the time as it has a drawback.

17. Sleep

If you set a deadly hit sleep for about 20 ms, you can hardly see that but it puts more meaning in that action.

18. Gun Delay

Make the character and its props look like they have weight/momentum when moving.

19. Gun Kick

Add recoil to things that would have it.

20. Strafing

If you shoot and change the direction the shooting will be still in the same direction until you stop shooting to turn around the gun.

21. More Permanence

Put ejecting shells in your game and make them permanent. It also helps to remember that you were in that room and that you did shoot a lot.

22. More Bass

Add bass to your shooting and explosions they get much more meaning and power.

23. Super Machinegun

Try ridiculous variations on how shooting performs, maybe three bullets a time, go crazy.

24. Random Explosions

That is a funny one but it puts more action in your game if you put some random explosions to your game when you shoot enemies, don’t overdo it.

25. More Enemies

You tuned up your gameplay so that you got the feeling you do have not enough to shoot at.

26. Even Higher Rate of Fire

Because it is more fun to shoot

27. Even Higher Rate of Camera Kick

Make your camera kick in the direction of the action/shooting.

28. Bigger Explosions

Seriously, who doesn’t like explosions?

29. Even More Permanence

Put some dust after your gigantic explosions and let it fade slowly.

30. Meaning

Let your player win or loos. It’s an obvious one.

Lens #17: The Lens of the Toy

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The lens #17, the lens of the toy from The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses written by Jesse Schell. If you buy books through the links in this article I will get a small commission for that.

This lens is about my little character which can pick up weapons, ammo, and other stuff, which can walk, jump and shoot.

I have to answer the following questions

  • If the game had not goal, would it be fun at all? If not, how can I change that?
  • When people see my game, do they want to start interacting with it, even before they know what to do? If not, how can I change that?

It’s fun for me to walk around and shoot enemies. It is simple enough to “get it” and interact with it. Due to the COVID-19, there are no gameshows where I could test if people would like to interact with my game. But the bar should be pretty low to give it a try. But the game world is not interactive enough to just enjoy walking around and explore the levels without any goal.

The game world needs more things we can interact with. Like flying paper in an office space or dust and little debris when walking around. Also shooting should have more impact on the game world.

The outcome of this chapter will lead to a couple more topics for Lens #16: The Lens of Risk Mitigation as I have to try them out quickly which means more prototyping. Prototyping is a fun thing to do actually and with ESC (see also my articles about ESC) it is a piece of cake.

A selection of ideas

  • Destructible stuff
  • Attacking dash
  • Water which includes swimming and diving
  • Whirling paper when rushing through an office space
  • Whirling dust and debris along the way when we shoot
  • A sleeping animation if just standing around
I get a small commissions for purchases made through the following links, I only have books in this section which I bought myself and which I love. No bullshit.

Risk Mitigation: Add more Details to Death Animation

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This is the follow-up article about lens #16, the lens of risk mitigation from The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses written by Jesse Schell. If you buy books through the links in this article I will get a small commission for that.

I tried quickly if more details for death animation would give the game more depth.

And it does. Need some more fine-tuning and random but the idea is there and looks good and funny. But I need to add some random explosion if I kill a mass of soldiers. The blood fragments have to be more random in the depth axis so the helmet is not all behind the blood fragments. But this is fine-tuning for a prototype this is enough.

I get a small commissions for purchases made through the following links, I only have books in this section which I bought myself and which I love. No bullshit.

Risk Mitigation: Test Bloodstain for Bullet Exit Wounds

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This is the follow-up article about lens #16, the lens of risk mitigation from The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses written by Jesse Schell. If you buy books through the links in this article I will get a small commission for that.

In this blog article I tested bloodstain for exit wounds, this makes it much crueler and in a weird way, satisfying to shoot those dummies. I took the damage into account to generate the amount of bloodstain when an enemy gets hit. But this is not just limited to the enemies but also the hero.

Looks quite satisfying but might be that it becomes a bit too violent. I apply to every character, robot, and object its own hit animation, so even when I shoot at a computer I can make some fitting nice animation for getting hit. I think this looks more interesting than just color the object flat white for one frame when get hit by bullets.

The test leads to a better-organized code and easier to add new hit and destroy animations for certain objects and characters.

I get a small commissions for purchases made through the following links, I only have books in this section which I bought myself and which I love. No bullshit.

Risk Mitigation: Test More Random for Shell Ejection

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This is the follow-up article about lens #16, the lens of risk mitigation from The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses written by Jesse Schell. If you buy books through the links in this article I will get a small commission for that.

I will play with the random factor for shell ejection, they currently look a bit like a waterfall as I only have random for the vertical component of the ejection force. So I tried to add as well random for the horizontal force. I will have to do this comparison for all my weapons that I want to use in the game.

For me, B looks a bit more vivid and a bit more out of control, actually exactly what I want to achieve. Anyway, I made a tweet but this time no feedback. I guess it doesn’t make a big difference. I go with a tiny bit more random and that’s it, looks more vivid.

I get a small commissions for purchases made through the following links, I only have books in this section which I bought myself and which I love. No bullshit.

Risk Mitigation: Test Bigger Muzzles

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This is the follow-up article about lens #16, the lens of risk mitigation from The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses written by Jesse Schell. If you buy books through the links in this article I will get a small commission for that.

I will try different sizes of muzzles and add a bit more random to it to see if that could make a difference. As well as experiment with different sizes for every gun. As well add some random to make it more vivid.

For fast prototyping, I need a simple way to switch between the weapons. There are a couple of ways. I can make a pickup command and exchange the gun with the previous gun and just put all guns in a row. Or add them programmatically and make a switch weapon button for this test.

I made a four-panel gif image with https://www.kapwing.com labeled with A: Constant muzzle with a flashlight, B: Random muzzle with a flashlight, C: Constant muzzle no light, and D: Random muzzle no light.

And made a tweet to get some feedback which is the best variant.

I also asked friends and family members. The outcome is that a bit more of the votes like B the best as it looks more vivid. The second large group preferred A because the muzzle leaks through the floor if I use a random muzzle size, which is simple to fix. Many said a tiny less random would be beneficial. There was one vote for C as the gradient muzzle would not fit the art style.

Furthermore, that way I could engage many more people on my tweet, much more than I expected.

So thanks a lot for helping me out to find the best muzzle style which is important for my game as it lives from the weapon, shell ejection, recoil, and muzzle. I will have at least 3 different sizes of muzzles, one for nine-millimeter weapons I have, one for the soldier rifles like M1 or M4, and one for the bigger guns. I will probably have to fine-tune this further.

I get a small commissions for purchases made through the following links, I only have books in this section which I bought myself and which I love. No bullshit.

Lens #14: The Lens of the Problem Statement

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The lens #14, the lens of the problem statement from The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses written by Jesse Schell.

Design is about solving problems, but if you don’t know what problem you solve then it is pretty hard to design something, it’s like designing in a vacuum. This lens can be applied over and over again. Game development is based on iterations. I will just evolve this article over time.

The better the problem statement the better the solution for it. So what are the questions I have to answer

  • What problem do I really want to solve?
  • Did I make assumptions about these games that have nothing to do with its true purpose?
  • Is a game really the best solution?
  • How do I know if the problem is solved.

What problem do I really want to solve? How can I make an enjoyable gun game using minimalistic graphics?

Did I make assumptions about this game that has nothing to do with its true purpose? The assumption I made is it has to be a platform game as I initially wanted to explore this genre from a programming point of view. But it has nothing to do with its true purpose, I guess I could make even a full 3D game. But this is kind of a limitation I have as a one-person studio, I simply need a very simple way to do that game as I have to fill it with game content. So better it is a packed small platformer than an almost empty 3D game.

Is a game really the best solution? This is entirely about a video game. I think the question should be more is a platform game really the best solution? I just use a platform game as it is the cheapest way to make a game as a single person studio. But I want to focus on the action part and use the platform environment as battlefields and story elements.

How do I know if the problem is solved I think I only will know that by playtesting. I have to focus on playtesting very very soon with playable levels and evaluate the feedback.

I get a small commissions for purchases made through the following links, I only have books in this section which I bought myself and which I love. No bullshit.

Lens #13: The Lens of Infinite Inspiration

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The lens #13, the lense of infinite inspiration from The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses written by Jesse Schell.

The core of this lens is to look everywhere else than to other games.

  • What experience in my life would I like to share with others?
  • In what small way can I capture the essence of that experience and put it into the game?

I will make a collection of thoughts and in the end, I will apply lens #2

Here some inspirations

  • A smooth skateboard run in a bowl
  • Martial Art
  • Hellboy comics

Smooth Skateboard run in a Bowl

I love to watch skateboard clips, especially smooth bowl runs. With this slight scratch sound when the rider corrects his board with all four wheels on the ground. My aim here will be to make moving the character smooth, precise, and nice. The player should be able to move through a world smoothly and fluidly. This will include a lot of testing and adjusting. The problem I face here is that adjusting the player control will affect the existing levels. A slight change in the jump height, speed, or friction can have a great impact on the levels.

Applying lens #2 leads to the following 3 questions

  • What experience do I want the player to have?
  • What is essential to that experience?
  • How can I capture this essence in our game?

The player should get a feeling of great control over the character. The walkthrough must be fluid and to the point.

Like the smooth and almost effortless-looking run of a skateboarder in a bowl or skatepark, the player should be able to smoothly navigate through the levels. It should always give the player a very good control over the character.

To navigate through the levels smoothly the levels should be crafted in a way that the player doesn’t pump his head, the platforms are reachable without being pixel exact, as well you always see where you go, there is no blind rattlesnake hole. Whenever you have to jump blind, make sure it is always a safe jump without surprises on the landing spot, this could be a storytelling element.

Martial Art

Martial art is my choice of sport. It trains your brain, your body, and your balance. To watch skilled martial artist is a joy, the moves are seamless, almost effortless, the weapons are super precise. I love choreographed fight scene, compared to a real fight, that looks just beautiful, almost like a dance.

Let’s apply lens #2 here as well and answer the three questions.

  • What experience do I want the player to have?
  • What is essential to that experience?
  • How can I capture this essence in our game?

It’s important that the player feels always capable throughout the gameplay without feeling bored or overpowered. The control over the weapons and aiming while walking and shooting should be smooth and precise. Even if the controller isn’t that precise the game has to be, that should be an experience I want the player has.

Martial art is about a combination of attack and defense patterns nicely rowed up to defeat the opponent. The martial artist has great control over his weapons, everything is smooth, fast, and precise. There is no hesitation, no struggle, no fuss. Even modern action movies are filled with martial art and that makes them so enjoyable to watch. It’s not just the explosions and the fx, but as well the moves, attack, and defense during a gunfight.

The aiming of the guns should not be fully automated, but if you start shooting at an enemy it should keep track to a certain degree. The player has to point roughly in the direction of the enemies and the auto-aiming should then take part. I’m thinking of having an automated switch weapon, whenever you are too close to enemies, nevertheless the player should be able to oversteer the choice of the weapons. Maybe I can make this configurable.

Hellboy Comic

I admire the Hellboy comic style from Mike Mignola, it’s dark, simple in a way and hence full of little details. I like the sceneries he set’s up in those comics. One of the stories starts at a door and as soon hellboy opens it hell breaks loose. The battles are often short but intense. And it’s always a boss fight for hellboy.

Let’s tackle lens #2

  • What experience do I want the player to have?
  • What is essential to that experience?
  • How can I capture this essence in our game?

One of the things I like from Hellboy is the silent moment and the intense but short fights. Sometimes he gets catapulted to the next level of the story. I’m thinking of having some silent moments to tell a story in this game. But fights should be always intense, no matter if it is a boss fight or not. I’m not yet sure if it will work.

Essential to this experience is, that there is not continues battles going on like in a shmup but as well some story elements, like silent moments or falling down a hole and find your self in a new room, after battling a boss (which might have survived so he can show up later again).

I think by adding a transition from one battle to another and after boss fighting getting catapulted to another world even. Like in hellboy where he went to hell after the witch grabbed his heart. So actually hellboy looses but this doesn’t mean to be the end of the game. I like that very much and gives this dying a new perspective. I kinda have an idea, but not written in stone. I have to try this experience and see if that could work.

I like this idea and I accidentally stumbled over it in analyzing what exactly I like from this comic, what underlying mechanics which drives the story to the weirdest places on earth and the underworld.

I get commissions for purchases made through the following links, I only put stuff in this section I also would buy or I already bought

Shoot in All Directions

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I can now shoot in all directions with my little cute hero. And you can see he enjoys it a lot! My game goes now the action game path with a very simple level design. The idea is to improve the visuals with small little details. The ejected shells are one sample, the hearth if he collects new ammo, and the funny lauthter if he shoots like crazy. I plan to add more things which interacts with the hero or any NPC, like crickets which fly aroung and get disturbed in the the bullet hell.

I think it’s now quite hard to aim on something and as ammo is a limited resource I probably need kind of an automatic aim. The idea is that if there is something to shoot and I aim in a directions the automatic aim to the next shootable thing in that direction if it is in range. But I need to do first game testing. This is actually the next step any way to have a set of simple levels and let people play them so I can collect feedback. In the past I did that with steam, I probably also will look into itch.io as well.

I get commissions for purchases made through the following links, I only put stuff in this section I also would buy or I already bought

Lens #11: The Lens of Unification

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The lens of unification of The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses is the next lens I want to look at through on our game All Fucked Up. The book was written by Jesse Schell and is one of the most useful books about game design with its unique approach of lenses.
Unification is about finding a theme for All Fucked Up and reinforce that theme.

  • What is the theme of All Fucked Up?
  • Do I reinforce that theme in all ways possible?

Finding the theme is an important part to design All Fucked Up. Because it will help me to filter all the things which do not fit with my theme. A great decision tool. But it’s not easy to find a theme.
My game is about guns and ammo. It feels good to fire the guns. It feels good to shoot stuff in pieces. The player should have a lot of occasions to fire the collected guns. The theme will be gun-related. The theme is also about being cool and funny, like Eddie Murphy or Will Smith. Being highly skilled with guns like John Wick or Jason Bourne. The theme is about being a guy which is at the wrong time at the wrong place.

"Guns, Ammo, and Being a Funny Hero"

The guns feel good, the ammo has to fit the guns. The focus is on guns, ammo, and the hero. The environment should not be too distractive. Guns fired in the dark looks very cool. The following will reinforce the theme:

  • Dark levels
  • The guns with its kickback, shell ejection, and power
  • The relatively weak opponents make the guns feel very powerful
  • To have an excuse to use the weapons there will be plenty of enemies to shoot
  • The hero is minion like and funny, he loves collecting ammo and is skilled with the guns
  • The enemies have to be mean to make the hero look funny if he screams in fear or surprise
  • Jump, double jump, wall jumps, roles (dashing) to have improved action scenes

I would like to have a different environment which fits the theme but very simple

  • Concrete
  • Fire
  • Neon light
  • Dark
  • Tubes

Enforce the destruction with contrast like silence, action free transitions, butterflies, crickets, and more

I get commissions for purchases made through the following links, I only put stuff in this section I also would buy or I already bought