Unsuckifying Your Games - What I Learned

When I submitted my jam version of Song of the Sea, I thought I had made a chill fishing game. Turns out, it was extremely frustrating and inconvenient in all of the worst ways... which is less than ideal.

Fortunately, over the past year I've learned from my mistakes and wanted to share the principles that have led to my update for Song of the Sea being a MUCH better (yet certainly far from perfect) follow-up on the rhythm fishing game idea.

(play here: https://dewett-wright-dev.itch.io/song-of-the-sea)

First: Feedback is everything.

Every single action the player performs needs some kind of feedback - whether positive or negative. Player presses a button? They better hear something and the button better have a visual reaction. Player makes a mistake? It needs to be very clear what they messed up on, both visually and sound-wise. Want immersion? You must immerse the player, and the only way to do that is by making sure everything they do is accounted for and causes a reaction.

Improvements here: positive feedback (visual and auditory) for correct notes - easily distinguishable notes

Second: The experience you promise needs to match what actually happens.

My jam version, while looking like a casual, relaxing game, proved to be a ragebait game in reality. Players couldn't catch fish because of how difficult it was, creating a disconnect between what I advertised and what the player felt. This, combined with the lack of feedback on mistakes, led to a frustrating, overall-not-fun user experience.

The problem wasn't that the game was difficult necessarily, but that players thought they were getting one thing and got another. It'd be like if I went to McDonald's and ordered a burger but got McNuggets instead. McNuggets have their place, don't get me wrong, but you still got my order wrong and I'm not thrilled about it.

The old jam version - notice the lack of feedback visually - there was NO auditory feedback either :(

Third: Prioritize player convenience.

Players shouldn't have to fight your game's mechanics to do the thing they want to do. When you have players test your game, watch closely what they do immediately after starting and what their default behavior is. This first impression is the MOST valuable feedback you can get - and it can come from anybody. Everyone's perspective is valid when it comes to first impressions. If your game doesn't make sense or bores them immediately, chances are you have some work to do.

The players who played the game this time around liked the bonuses, so I added as many as possible

Finally: Accessibility matters.

With freeware, you should almost always allow users to play your game in browser on as many different devices as possible. It's one of the only ways to get people to take a chance on your game. You have to cast a wide net in this space... especially with minimal advertising.

My game isn't even close to perfect, but learning and applying these principles has helped improve it immensely.