I felt a big dose of imposter's syndrome when I submitted "Edge of Known Space" to the 2024 Game Off Jam, given how simple it is and the fact that I only completed a portion of it.  I questioned if it was even a game, and thought players would scoff at it for being so trivial.

Happily, the feedback was very positive, echoing an appreciation of the depth of design and play within the minimal presentation. This feedback is very encouraging and reminds me why I enjoy making games. Here are a few of the stand out themes in the feedback.

Solid design pays off

I've always been a detail oriented designer and I believe that the small details and thoughtful design are what can make a game unique and special.  I was happy to see many comments that recognized this, pointing out the quality of the writing and even the colors. For example, I spent way too much time working on the FOV and blending color values together to get a graduated drop-off effect, but I think it really elevates the game and improves immersion, especially given its minimal graphics.

Story matters

My interests have always been around narrative and story, and I try to tell stories through games. I haven't made a sci-fi genre game before, despite it being one of my personal favorite genres, and the allure of telling a good sci-fi story is what prompted this game.  Even though there's not much text and there's only one character and the graphics leave the world completely up to the player's imagination, I was thrilled that so many players were immediately pulled into the story. This game is about revealing a hidden story as much as it is about revealing a hidden map, and having a good story is key.

Minimal / retro interfaces still have allure

I've wanted to use rot.js for a few years now.  It is a tool normally meant for classic terminal roguelike games. For this game I didn't want to make a roguelike, in fact it is the opposite, with a meticulously designed map with no procedural generated content, but using this tool for this game felt like an interesting juxtaposition. I was pleased to see that most players agreed. You often hear that constraints are good for creativity and that rang true when working with this tool and style.  Like interactive fiction, you can often do much more than you can with higher fidelity games because even them most complex visuals and effects are represented with a few words or characters on the map. 

I did however, misjudge the simplicity of the tool.  I thought it would be fast and easy to create with it since it is so minimal in what you can do, but I ended up spending way more time than expected just getting the basics working, even  after I thought I had figured it out. Perhaps that is due to using it for something different than what it is intended for, or maybe it is just the normal learning curve when using a new tool.  It speaks to the rigor of the tool that I was able to use it differently than intended to good effect.

Sound matters

Sound is not my strong suit. At first I thought I might be able to get away without adding sound, but that was naive. All players commented on the missing sound, and playing others' games, I noticed how important even simple sound design is. I plan t continue working on this game, so I'll be sure to add sound before calling it complete!

Emergent immersion

I was surprised at how many comments I got about the crystal maze area of the game. Players shared how they got lost in its maze and commented on how it looked like the crystals were moving and changing around them. Interestingly, the maze is static and the crystals never change, but the FOV effects do change their color and reveal or hide clearings in the maze as you move around. That was another area that took a lot of work to get right, so I'm very happy that players enjoyed it and experienced it as even more than what it is.

Staying true to your design principles, which sometimes means making changes

The most valuable feedback that I got was from one of the more critical reviews from a player that didn't like how blank areas of the map  were blocked off until they become "magically" visible after reading a log. I had to think about why the player felt that way for a while and it forced me to formalize the central design principle behind this game:

The unknown remains unknown until it becomes known, either through direct exploration, secondhand information, or tool usage.

This principle applies to both the mechanics and the narrative. The part that wasn't landing for that player was revealing the unknown via secondhand information via the logs. After consideration, I realized that allowing the player to push into the unknown was more true to the principle. I made an unpublished change post-jam that makes exploring the unknown possible but very tedious (see the screen grab below). This works with the theme so much better because it underscores how challenging the unknown can be. Plus it ramps up the payoff of finding new tools which can reveal unknown areas in much easier ways (like after finding the torch).

I like this much better, but it does add some challenges.  It makes the game less linear, meaning players can discover narrative plot points and tools in a different order than I intended, which may be confusing, but I'm trying to embrace that and trust the player to piece together their own personal exploration of the space.

All in all this has been a very rewarding experience and I am continuing to develop the game to completion and am excited for all that I have planned. There's lots more to come, so follow if you want to see where it goes!