Gamedev Mutations: A game as mutability potential.

When starting in game development it is easy to picture the game making process as something smooth and almost completely based on predefined guidelines. The words "Game Design Document" have such a strong smell of rigidity and accuracy that it gets hard to think of changes or unpredicted problems. This might be true to AAA teams (but I strongly doubt it), since I have never been in such teams, but it surely is not true when it comes to independent studios/developers. In this article, I will try to bring this subject to light by showing how we, at Overlord Game Studio, are handling this kind of situation while developing "Tiny Little Bastards". I hope our experience can shed some light on the process of developing a game as an indie studio and prepare some of you to tackle this process a little easier, hopefully.

Mutation is the key.

When an indie game gets its first steps out of its developers’ minds, it is nothing but potential. Potential to grow, to be good (or bad) … and potential to change. In fact, a game at its early stages is an extremely mutable thing and, although this mutability can be very exciting to creative minds, at some point it must be contained, so the whole project has a chance of being completed. During the creation process, bad decisions are common and there are great chances that you will make them. Fortunately, the mutability of a game is always there to allow us to make changes to the original idea without compromising the whole project.

Tiny Little Bastards

When we first started our project, it was meant to be a simple 2D arena game. Nothing fancy… only local multiplayer with no campaign mode and just enough lore to keep it interesting. We were supposed to develop it in under two or three months, today we are getting close to six months and it is a completely different game.

A few things drove us away from the initial idea and passion was the strongest of them. We fell in love with our game and were unable to stop it from evolving on its own. The ideas kept coming until we finally made a formal decision to change it… to make the way we wanted at that time. The simple multiplayer mode became more complex, with two game modes, many different enemies, multiple unique characters etc.

The main mechanics were unaltered at this point and we were still going along with the initial design, but the project was now leaving its infancy. We had a big play test session with some friends… it was the first time we were showing our game to anyone and people seemed to like it a lot! It was good news! But every kid must grow… and everything changed. Again.

The multiplayer needed to be a secondary thing on Tiny Little Bastards. Our characters were so dense in our minds that we needed a proper way to tell their stories! And that was the moment we finally decided to start a campaign mode and change the whole project for good.

The New Mechanics

Today I can almost compare the mutation that occurred in Tiny Little Bastards to a whale that grew wings! Fancy, beautiful and strong wings! It has almost nothing to do with the initial concept but it is something we love looking at and it never ceases to amaze us (just like the courage of the Hobbits to Balin, the Dwarf).

The simple 2D arena game became a Metroidvania adventure where the player can chose between three battle stances (Fire, Frost, Blood) at any time to embed its weapon (a war hammer, dual-wield axes or a long spear) with the element type. The Combat System is now based in combos that can be performed (up to 8 combinations of 2 attacks types on 3-hit combos). A beautiful winged whale.

I like to think that Tiny Little Bastards is now at its late adolescence and moving towards a great adulthood, full of promises and potential to grow! However, it is clear to me that the potential to change is almost over… Nevertheless, this is a good thing! Without its mutability, the project can gain the consistency it needs so much and become a strong and solid game! The urge to make changes is also fading in our minds as a team. We believe our game aligned itself with our hopes and goals and this feeling makes us able to work harder each day to see it reach the public!

Conclusion

It is safe to say that every form of creative project and every form of art is imbued with an immense amount of mutability potential. A game is not different. The potential to change is almost everything a game is when it is being conceived and it will fade in time. Nevertheless, the development team must be able to contain this mutation process whenever it risks the project’s progress. It’s awesome to see something that was just a simple idea become a beautiful and real flying whale and I deeply encourage every team to put extra effort in developing its own unique and beautiful mutant!  

To know more about Tiny Little Bastards:  Devlog ; Facebook ; Twitter