What’s up?
Sometimes you have to slow down and remind yourself that even small steps bring us closer to our goal. It’s called progress.
The simplest facilitators of it are: clear rules, a vision of the finish line, and a reward system. All three are in Flooded. How? Inspired by strategy games with which I fell in love as a kid – by adding the eras system.
Up the ladder…
In Flooded, the gameplay can be divided into four stages – the Era of Mining (highlighting the extraction of ores and search for new deposits), the Era of Electricity (adding electricity production), the Era of Expansion (focusing on placing the buildings that can be placed on the ocean), and the New Era (allowing to complete remaining tasks).
Each of them increases the number of possibilities that we have and provides tasks to structure the level and help the player. For example – entering the Era of Electricity allows us to construct buildings related to… Yes, you guessed – electricity.
Closer to the end
As I mentioned, the main factor behind this shape of the game is the desire to engage the player. We all love when our efforts are rewarded (just remember the satisfaction of a D- at school)! What’s more, many games introduce intermediate points in larger missions – no one wants to keep players without gratification for too long, as it may negatively affect their enthusiasm.
Luckily, the genre and form of Flooded make it possible to weave such a system in a very natural way. While playing, we feel that we have a tangible influence on how the world is created, a world that seems to be heading towards a wet end.
Thanks for coming, and see you soon!