u/ilikemyname21

Hey guys, just wanted to try my hand at reviewing games since i've been playing a lot more in between making games. I call it "studying" haha.

I'll try to keep it short, succinct and easy to read. Sonic riders on apple arcade is a game that has so much potential to be something great, and yet falls short in such a dumb way.

TLDR. The game is centered around racing. So far that is coherent and fun. Controls feel good, and tracks look quite decent. HOWEVER! the modes/game meta are so counter intuitive and counter productive that they make me close the game.

Controls: The game feels very good. its set up as a team racer of 3 vs 3, where you have two bots and so does your opponent. As a dev, i see this as the opportunity for sega to artificially inflate the track with other players all while lowering server costs. Especially when you know that your teammate's placement in the race has no impact on the final result: my teammates regularly get 1st, and 2nd, but lets say i get 4th and my opponent gets 3rd, they win the race. You should see your teammates as extensions for item usage/hybridizing your own gameplay. They offer perks to you while you race.

Different characters have very different playstyles and the roster of characters is quite rich! it includes hoverboards (the reason i got the game was to test them), and cars. all of these are customizable in the garage (HUGE FREAKING CAVEAT LATER THOUGH!!!!!)

Gameplay: I think this is where the game falls flat. controls are fun, but youre essentially relegated to only two modes and they are super light. You have "race" and "time trial" which from the day i got the game (3-4 days ago?) has had only one map I can run through!!! This is insane! I'm pretty hard headed and will do the same time trial hundreds of times but at this point, I genuinely feel bad for anyone who wants to try another map?! And for the racing you don't choose your map.

On top of this customization/unlocks are gated not behind iaps, not behind a meta of buying with in game coins, but by community events, and many of them are community wide dependent! ***So you don't unlock Shadow the hedgehog on a hoverboard, the whole community has to work for it?!*** While i think its a great idea in concept, its really poorly executed. Its a month long challenge currently to wait and see if we will unlock Jet the rider. And i'm severely dependent on other players.
I can't even unlock car parts because as of day one i have been at 25 red coins (the currency for car parts) and can't for the life of me figure out how to unlock them. So i'm stuck playing with the same roster of characters doing the same time trial, and the same maps non stop. The only thing i have been progressing is the "wisp" system which for whatever reason they are super generous with. I just feel like i've run out of things to do. and that's just not good. especially in a racing game.

GAMEPLAY PLUS: This is my developer's alarm ringing. I have a theory. Given that it has a pvp and i've yet to not find a game, I think you are never racing in real time, unless its a match with friends (haven't tried that). My theory is that they store everyone's ghost runs per track. since you do so many runs of the same track, they take your average run time, and match you with someone of the same "level". During the race, you're racing their ghost, and items are essentially time penalties on their ghosts. you can hit their ghost with a rocket, and they are delayed in place for 1 second for example. This doesn't require any real time physics and is much less demanding server wise. Plus all my matchmaking times have been essentially identical: 5-10 seconds no matter the time of day or night. never experienced lag.

Overall: it's a game that has so much potential to be great if they fleshed out everything that isn't a racetrack. Right now I've run out of things to do and i'm on day 4 i think. I want to play more but other than the two modes, there is nothing to do, and i can't seem to increase how much currency i have to buy things in the shop! so i'm just at a stalemate with the game.

Because of that 6/10. Can't play a game that doesnt want you to play it.

I’m wondering how mobile gaming works on apple vision and if it’s ever an added value to the experience.

I was thinking of using old assets my artist made on billboards in my new game since it’s a synthwave/cyberpunk skating vibe and I don’t have a huge budget for visual assets. I wanted to make billboards with characters from my old game(s) on the billboards.
Would it count as an ad?
Would platforms like steam penalize me for doing this?

To be honest I don’t expect them to work as ads, but some of the assets are really beautiful and I feel like it would be dumb to not use them.

Hey everyone.
I'm trying to study what constitutes good game design. i've been looking into how to simplify fun to it's core elements. I was curious if there are any simple games that don't have a plethora of buttons/mechanics yet feel like they are quite deep in terms on gameplay.

I'm not looking for games like chess/go/slaythespire etc. I really want something simple like platformers, shooters that manage to keep the player interested despite extremely simple controls. Preferably something played in real time.

I'm also curious if these games can exist without too much meta progression which artificially slows down progress to lead to more complexity (not saying it's a bad thing, i'm just avoiding those as they aren't truly "simple" mechanics)

One example that approaches this was the original "tribes" games, where there were essentially two mechanics: ski and shoot. Map design and mastery became the true determinant of talent.
Rocket league might be the best example of this: No real difference in gameplay between the cars (or very little) and everyone plays the same thing: drive and hit a ball.

Any other recommendations that i can study? and why do you recommend them?

I’ve been thinking about how I rarely ever feel like we get accurate forest biomes in gaming. I’ve seen beautiful beaches and fields, but few forests feel dense and dangerous the same way that a forest/dense jungle make you feel scared about getting lost in.

Is it a lighting issue/generating enough density with the trees? I think the koroko forest in breath of the wild and certain forests in Ark are the only times where I truly felt like I was in an actual forest.

I would love for some references to point me in the right direction!
Thank you

Hope this doesn’t break any rules, but I don’t think it does.

I’m currently working on a synthwave hoverboarding game with different backdrops (space/ city/ over an ocean with thunder/ night sky/ Japanese cyberpunk themed city). I think it looks quite pretty. If any of the faceless channels want gameplay footage, I have hours of it and idk what to do with it. I’d love to share it with you if you guys would want it. It’s mostly just me surfing around space and doing tricks.

I know a lot of content creators use Minecraft/ subway surfers footage and I think it could help your channel stand out a bit. Let me know if this could interest you!

Balatro is a phenomenal example but do you have more recommendations? Things like Tetris alternatives, Pac-Man etc

Looking for any useful resources on developing in game economies! Both internally, and also when players buy things such as cosmetics, characters, etc. any advice appreciated!
Thank you.

Hey guys, i just wanted a little bit of insight if any of you guys have made racing games as to how to determine what makes a track interesing? i've been playing around with a modular system but it feels very random? Is there a way to organize one's structure?

If you’re playing a game that’s meant to be very casual, ie no real social interaction, do you care about cosmetics? Do you rather have body part customization or just one full set?

I asked a few days about Jsrf clones on iOS and got very little viable similar games.
Movement games are such a great fit for touch controls. What genres do you also think need a boost in iOS/mobile?

Basically any game where the majority of the fun is traversal. Doesn’t have to be rollerblading, but I really want something where I feel fast, weighty and also able to do crazy traversal things like get massive air.

In a world where companies spend millions a year for optimisation, I feel like my best return has always been just telling people about my projects.
I’m also terrible at aso. Is it a very valuable skill to invest time into as an individual for indie projects?

I’m making an action platforming game. I need help with making the characters.

I don’t have a huge budget sadly, but I do have a recurring one. If the partnership works, I will most likely hire you multiple times over the next few months. I want to keep the characters as simple as possible to not be too demanding on mobile phones.

Please include your portfolio in the comments.

There’s just something so gratifying about saying it and hearing their surprise. Especially when they say unity first.

Just trying to gauge what devices people use to run their games and the level of game they’re running on their devices.

Hey guys, i'm making an action platformer and i'm worried that controller users might find the game way too easy since i've been playtesting with touch screens. Do controllers really help that much? Should i add a trigger to make it more difficult if they have a controller?