Hello everyone!
We hope you've all had a pleasant summer. Ours was an industrious one!
Lets dive into a few topics we've been thinking about...
Communicating Causeway
It's hard to explain our game!
Internally, we have a very clear picture of the kind of game Causeway should be. We try to communicate that externally, through pages like our Design Principles. But reading through all that... what does it mean for players?
I've been told that our website describes more of a vision than a game. I think that's true.
Of course vision is important, but a great game description usually has a key mechanic that hooks people in. We've been reflecting on how to help a first-time visitor quickly understand: "why Causeway?"
Our conclusion is that if there's one theme that's really present in Causeway, it's exchange of opportunities.
This is a large part of what you will do in the game. Here's what it means.
Invitation to Participate
As you play, you will be making choices. Initially it's character select, then it's counsels (our twist on items) and choices on lane and around objectives.
The way Causeway frames them, each choice you make is like advancing an idea, and each of these ideas is something your team can build upon. You don't have to ask or even want them to do that — they can just see what you did, and follow along if they like.
An idea that several players are building upon tends to become exponentially stronger. This means someone else's choice presents you with an opportunity to build towards something interesting and cool. Similarly, your choices introduce opportunities for others, and this process repeats throughout the match.
We design for this "exchange of opportunities" because it accelerates players connecting with each-other and collaborating on shared ideas. Choices become conversation-starters, ice-breakers, and focal points for working together.
We don't rely on any specific mechanic for this, though many contribute. Instead, we have a philosophy that for a choice to be in the game, it must feed into this cycle of exchange.
A New Character
It's time to introduce another Causeway character.
Meet Jasper — our meddlesome dealer in bootleg jewellery!
Jasper has been in the alpha for quite a while. We initially added him as a clone of Geomancer (warning: old http link!), a concept from one of my old games. The character was popular for his interaction of placing obstacles and knocking enemies into them.
For Causeway, we've diversified Jasper with more utility and some very conditional mobility tools. He enjoys his previous strengths, and now has a nice flow thanks to iteration and feedback from our testers.
Alpha Progress
This summer we made lots of progress with the game. The client is smoother and more stable than ever, and covers most of the basic quality-of-life features players expect.
We've done a major pass on audio, improving on individual sounds as well as levels, music, and implementing some fancier behind-the-scenes features to make the acoustic experience, well, sound great!
Of course, take all this with a pinch of salt. It's still an alpha.
We've also added plenty of content. There are now 50+ counsels in the game, which is enough that most characters have multiple build options to consider.
This is putting pressure on us, because players are having a hard time navigating these 50+ options. It's also an intimidating number to be faced with right from the start of a match!
We know the finished game will have fancy filtering tools and all the modern conveniences that make browsing and discovery easy... and we're going to have to invest in some of that earlier than we'd planned for.
It seems as content scales up, a game's UI really needs to keep pace! We look forward to exploring more in this space over the coming weeks.
Until next time,
Softmints
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