Infinite Hole
A downloadable game
Concept:
Control a hole in the ground that keep sucking things in and growing bigger!
What Went Right:
My direction this week is to find the simplest game on mobile and try to copy it, while implementing the necessary polish that is needed to the game, such as sound effects, loading screen, purchases, etc. I am able to get most of the things working, including buying coins to unlock levels / cosmetics.
What Went Wrong:
The version on google play isn't working as expected yet. The UI renders in different position from the build even though I've tested it with multiple aspect ratios. The store also still does not work, but I think I have an idea of what it might be. I also will need to learn to set up debugging tools for android. I plan to look further into these things during the next week.
What I Learned:
Outside of the core game loop, many things like loading screen, menus, and countdowns carry over from game to game. I will have to find a way to standardize these things to make the game development process faster in order to produce better games in under a week.
Download
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Comments
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I had fun with this game. Though I was unable to get big enough to swallow one of the cars which was my goal. I'm not sure if there was a way to extend time or use coins to level up before time ran out. I just tried several times to get the hole big enough to swallow a car.
I enjoyed the sound effects. I was playing with a mouse and it moved pretty well. Maybe different sound effects for the different types of items you suck up would be cool. Like glass sound for the bottles and some type of rubber popping sound for the cones. That may engage the player more. Also maybe some type of goal at the beginning like "swallow two cars."
I want to get to the point of easily carrying over the loading screens and menus. Good work with that.
The game runs well! Hole.io is a knock off of Donut County. Which means this is a knockoff of a knockoff.
The problem with this is it isn't better than Donut County OR Hole.io, it's actually worse. If you are going to copy something, you have to add something new to it, or evolve the design enough to be competitive. As it stands now, it doesn't have a place anywhere but the trash can.
From a design perspective, the levels don't have any logical composition, it's just a bunch of objects thrown about. If you study Katamari, there is a puzzle element where you have to roll into things in a certain order to progress. That type of level design allowed for flow and directed the player towards the critical path in the level design. Dynamicism makes for a better user experience and in this project, it was a missed opportunity.
If your goal is to make a unique product that will perform on the market, this is an example of exactly what not to do. This criticism is leveled towards the conversation we had about your business. Challenge yourself to think more critically about your designs. If you want to be competitive in the market, you have to be competitive yourself.