So, after 3 rounds of playtesting Pot Luck on all difficulties, I suggest we should have more items when we play this whenever it happens to appear.
Why more items?
It adds more challenge to get to the top, by giving you more decisions to make mid-flight.
- If you have more things at your disposal, you’ll most likely have to make more decisions on the fly in order to find the most effective strategy every time a new Pot Luck level arrives, which adds more to the challenge.
- So, in order to make it to the Top 10, not only will you have to be a good CI pilot, but you also need to make the right decisions at the right time in order to get the most points out of it.
It also gives newbies a chance to try new things before buying them
- While some people would spend keys on all things they can afford the first time they see it, others are more reluctant to do so in fear of wasting keys on items they’ll ultimately not use at all.
- This will be a perfect opportunity for those people to directly try and use these for themselves, and decide if this is the item they should be stockpiling on.
- Companies often give “trial versions” on certain software to ultimately get more purchases, which worked, and the same can be applied here via the new Pot Luck mode. If players use more keys on items they like, they might be more inclined to buy more keys via IAP or grind for more, both of which are good for the game’s long-term expansion.
This could be a pretty good "counter" mode to the 0 items mode coming soon.
- If you don’t like 0 items mode, do Pot Luck, and vice versa.
Plus, it's always super fun to just mess around with items in this game.
- Sometimes you just want to do so without having to worry about key investments.
- It is a literal “sometimes” as this challenge isn’t a permanent one, with a 20% chance of appearing
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Details on the changes:
The main design goal: Worst-case scenario, you should have some items at your disposal for use.
The design goals are more tailored towards competitive play,
mainly because for casual play: more items = more fun, no questions asked here.
More design details linked below - click on the arrows for more!
I’m also modifying off of the original randomizer for Pot Luck, which works quite similarly to this,
though it is a lot less generous with its item drops.
Extra lives: 4 - 8 slots
“A second chance never hurt anyone.”
Auto-Use (not Extra Lives): 1-2 distinct types, each with 2-3 slots
I’m giving a lot of these mainly for demonstrational use for newbies, as these won’t matter much in competitive play.
The only really useful one - the Coolant Can, if drop chances are equally randomized, it’ll have a 25% chance each roll, so you’ll most likely not get a lot of this.
If you do though, the most you’ll get is 9 (3 slots), but beware of the hot chickens.
Perishables: 1-2 distinct types, each with 2-3 slots
Perishables in this mode acts as global buffs - if you have it, so are your opponents.
Remembering what each of them are as well as what they do is key to using them efficiently.
For this category, I’d like to have a bit more variety to this memory game - sometimes you don’t need to remember much, but other times there’s a bit more stuff to remember to fly really well, but there won’t be any cases where you don’t have to remember anything, as that’d just be way less challenging to come by.
Special Weapons: 1-3 distinct types, each with 2 slots
Special Weapons are arguably one of the most significant piece of items in this whole gamemode.
Figuring out where and when to use them on the fly (if you have to) could net you way more points than your opponents.
Good tip to remember: If you have to use a Special Weapon, then most likely your opponents will be using them too. If they don’t then they’re just more skilled at things.
HUDs: 1-2
HUDs are used in game to give you extra information about something.
In a challenging environment it’s better to only give you some parts of these extra information, but not all of it.
Those who know the stuff the HUDs would normally show has a higher chance of winning here.
Insights: 0-2
Insights (the ones used in the Levels such as Heat and Wave Insights) are almost like HUDs, but they let you plan ahead instead of knowing more about what’s currently in the level, so if you have them, using them wisely gives you a much higher chance of overtaking your competition.
Of course, some instances could also feature no insights, in which case we are all blind.
PS: the Heat Insight kinda breaks this pattern a little bit - it feels more like a HUD element design-wise (showing you what’s currently in the level, not into the future), but whatever I guess.
Satellites: 0-4
Satellites are more like weapon boosters in a way, they add more firepower to your ship for a moment of time, so they can be used in place of Special Weapons in certain cases.
There’s one key difference though, is that Satellites can be obtained mid level in certain waves, whereas Special Weapons cannot. These are all about picking which item should be used to get the most benefits for your decision.
Sometimes the randomizer can be mean and not give you any Satellites, in which case you won’t have to make that many choices regarding which type of item to actually use (if you have to make one at all).
Weapon Level: 0-2
Low weapon level is intended (even for the harder difficulties) so you’re more likely to have to use the other items to help you get more firepower so the later levels could be easier. It is the aim of this mode after all - plot the best strategy with the items given to you to reach the top levels.
Note that if you feel like you have to use an item to beat a level, this is most likely the same for your other competitors too. If there is someone who can do so without using items - that’s just because they’re better than you.
Plus having a higher weapon level and it’ll be all like every other Daily Mission levels but everyone starts out the same and not Pot Luck - it’s simpler to think of, but it makes this mode a lot less distinct from other gamemodes, which is important in quality game design.
If everything looks and feels the same all the time, you’ll ultimately be bored.
Ship Type: depends on difficulty.
Easy: H%C: 55%, Muller: 20%, VF: 15% BX: 10%
Normal: H%C: 30%, Muller: 40%, VF: 15% BX: 15%
Hard: H%C: 20%, Muller: 30%, VF: 15% BX: 35%
These are balanced depending on which type of ship suits which difficulty setting the most.
H&C: More of a “starter edition” type of ships, so they should be most often seen in Easy levels, less in Normal, and the least on Hard.
Muller: Nothing special … most often seen in Normal levels, less so in the rest.
BX: Is weak in early stages, but shines brightest with enough firepower - should be most often seen on Hard levels, less so in Normal, even less in Easy.
VF: Is the hardest to balance, given its special ability to nullify environments, otherwise feel more like a Muller without much firepower in the late-game phase. For now they’re the same in all difficulty settings, will tweak it a bit more later on.
(reactor always max and engine randomized, already added)
Worst case scenario: 4 + 1x2 + 1x2 + 1x2 + 1 + 0 = 11 slots
(0 Satellite, 0 weapon firepower, + variable ship)
Best case scenario: 8 + 2x3 + 2x3 + 3x2 + 2 + 2 = 30 slots
(up to 4 Satellite, 2 weapon firepower + variable ship)
- Yes
- Yes, but … (comment your changes below)
- No (comment why below)
0 voters
PS: Yeah this was a long post.
I hope this gets added, or at least some parts of it are, and others rebalanced a tad bit here and there.
Idea