This is my first Katamari game and holy shit, I feel like I'm fighting for my fucking life. These controls are incredibly clunky and sluggish, the camera is way too zoomed in, and the king is completely unpleasable.
Idk if this is an ADHD/Autism thing, but I'm nearing the end of my game and I'm finding it incredibly difficult to make decisions. Even decisions for things that don't really matter all that much.
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I have to make cutscenes and visuals and I'm swamped trying to make everything have a clear purpose, and I'm running out of ideas. The last thing I want is to confuse players who are looking into every detail, and I at least want everything I make to have some connection to the themes of my game.
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For example, I keep thinking the reason "it looks cool" isn't nearly enough and I start overcomplicating things.
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Is this normal, and am I overreacting?
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During my latest analysis on my game and what needs to be done, I keep finding that one area I've made doesn't fit in with the rest in terms of gameplay or progression.
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It doesn't have a reward/anything important in it besides a cool mechanic that's only used in that area.
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I know how to incorporate it into the story in a way that's cool and builds on the world well, but it has no purpose in the overall progression.
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I REALLY want to include it, but I cannot figure out what to put in it to justify its existence.
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Should I bite the bullet and scrap the area? It's an optional area right now and would mainly serve as a way to unlock a new ending, but right now I still need to figure out the main ending's details.
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Or is this something that I need to answer myself? If so, do you have any tips or guidance on how to best assess my options?
Over the last 3-4 years, I've gone from making my game puzzle focused to narrative driven, and then back to puzzle focused after realizing that designing a narrative I liked made me spiral into decision making hell.
Now, I'm trying to wrap up my game and I'm running into multiple questions that I have for the world I'm crafting.
I know the lore, I know the history and I know what everything means/symbolizes, but there are things I don't know how to properly explain to the player (through showing or telling).
The thing is, explaining some of these things would imply that the player can use that information in SOME way to progress, but if I were to explain them, I'd feel compelled to extend development time even more and incorporate those things into more puzzles.
Even the ending, which I haven't drafted yet on paper or in notes, is causing me headaches. I wanted to make an abstract sequence, but now I'm worried that it won't be a good payoff for a puzzle game. At the same time, I can't seem to figure out how to create an actual final puzzle sequence for the player to go through.
I'm very quickly losing motivation to work on this, but I don't want to give it up now. Do you have any tips or suggestions?
(Besides starting over or quitting because I'm not doing that)