[img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44714141/83c7159c074843cd5c29469b555fb8598e89e934.jpg[/img] Hello! I hope you are enjoying "Raindrop Sprinters". I, Shuhei Miyazawa aka room_909, have been working on this game for about 2 years. I will be sharing with you the secret story of its development in several parts over the next few articles. Please bear with me if you like! There are a few spoilers, so please be careful! Oh yeah, feel free to comment if you have any questions! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44714141/7195af93d22e7e388e584c2688d91c9eb0d0bbed.png[/img] "Raindrop Sprinters" is the upper version of the free game "[url=https://room-909.itch.io/rain-drop]Raindrop[/url]" released in 2020-2021. The rules and content of the game were already completed at the time of Raindrop. In fact, this game was born out of a painful idea. In 2020, as the Corona disaster hit the world, I was in agony. Every day was filled with gloomy news, and I was hesitant to go out. I wanted to offer something a little more enjoyable. So I turned to my game creator friends and said, "[url=https://x.com/room_909/status/1322362555948363777]I will make a game in a month using GameMaker! If I don't finish it, please chastise me![/url]". I'm an amateur who has hardly ever made a game. I am a direct descendant of the so-called NES generation, but I loved 80's Namco arcade games and dreamed that one day I would make games like that. My skills were limited to a little Javascript programming, some simple pixel-art, and a little composing since I used to play the jazz piano. However, I thought I could make an interesting game if I had an idea. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44714141/4b80394e21c55a7ad62722ffd514b6ee4f9c670b.jpg[/img] It got off to a good start, but eventually the day of the deadline arrived without completion. My friends were waiting to make a fuss whether my game was completed or not. I must avoid embarrassment if I don't do something about it. So I stopped the original project and created another game that could be completed in a day. That was Raindrop, which was modeled after a game we used to play in the hallways of our school when I was in elementary school. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44714141/bb851511464fc207442900ab71d77a6e7d208a0b.jpg[/img] On November 30, 2020, [url=https://x.com/room_909/status/1333423614507454470]Raindrop ver 0.5 was released[/url]. It took us all morning and night to create it, an overly simple game where you just run through the corridor avoiding the rain. If you take a golden raindrop, you get an additional goal bonus, but nothing else. Somehow I managed to keep my promise by releasing Raindrop, which at the very least functioned as a game. My friends were disappointed that the festival could not take place! However, this is hardly a finished product. In creating the game, I had the following in mind. [list] [*] Score attack games that can be played in a short amount of time [*] Keep the game as simple as possible, and make it easy to understand just by looking at it [*] Place the highest priority on tempo and comfort. [*] Aim to get 1 million points [*] Highlight risk and reward [*] Power ups when certain actions are taken [/list] I thought that only when all of these things were cleared could it be called complete. It was frustrating to release something incomplete. In this state, I couldn't consider it a very interesting game, so I kept upgrading the version little by little as I thought about it. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44714141/c17e13561d0a3f6bf3a45a0ab747e3ef90490d26.jpg[/img] On December 4, 2020, [url=https://x.com/room_909/status/1334841515688902656]ver 0.8 was released[/url]. The game screen, which had been lonely, became a little livelier and more dramatic. The most significant change is the replacement of golden raindrops with bouncing stars. Instead of raindrops that disappear when they hit the ground, they are now stars that remain on the screen, allowing you to take them whenever you like to increase your bonus points. It's now easier to choose between risk and reward. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44714141/291db6b5e73bdcfeac6b781023820b093516917a.jpg[/img] On January 9, 2021, [url=https://x.com/room_909/status/1347755097325928449]ver 0.97 was released[/url]. Name entry is now possible, and the game becomes more like an arcade game at once. Furthermore, a badge system was introduced as a power-up mechanism. This was inspired by "The Tower of Druaga (Namco)" and was intended to allow players to enjoy solving small riddles and getting power-ups as a set. I also came up with the conditions and effects for acquiring badges at this time, and by changing the order in which they are acquired, the strategy changes as well. It fit in better than I thought it would. And there was one more major specification addition. This is the introduction of a slow-motion button. This system allows you to slow down the fall of the rain while consuming the gauge, so that you can go through the rain without waiting for it to fall. The badge also allows you to dash, which really picks up the tempo of the game. This combination, which taught us how good it felt to run, was a major invention in the control system. As a side note, the slow motion mechanism was inspired by "Guwange (CAVE)". [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44714141/591af7bdd1f3104f1f10e67d15ce032edf2d8ca4.jpg[/img] On January 11, 2021, [url=https://x.com/room_909/status/1358070074775506947]finally the official version, ver 1.00, was released[/url]. At first this game was endless (I thought it was impossible to keep avoiding the downpour at level max), but my friends said, "I don't want to get a game over!". Furthermore, an international player asked, "I've collected seven badges, and nothing is happening?". After much thought, I introduced the last five challenges and Star Fever. This made the game more competitive, as players could see how much money they could make in a given amount of time. Here's what happened that I never expected. My game reached an overseas game creator. Terry Cavanagh of "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/70300/VVVVVV/]VVVVVV[/url]", Derek Yu of "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/239350/Spelunky/]Spelunky[/url]", and Locomalito of "[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/628800/Super_Hydorah/]Super Hydorah[/url]" all found Raindrop interesting. It was like a dream. The number of players quickly increased, and eventually even RTA players joined the game, creating scores that I had never seen before. I was really happy, but at the same time, I was in a cold sweat when I found some bugs that came out of poor production. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44714141/b2ed298d39dd6d7e5e71979be9e9fdbdfa60a388.jpg[/img] On February 7, 2021, [url=https://x.com/room_909/status/1358070074775506947]I uploaded the final version, 1.07[/url], to complete the project. I am proud to say that I have done everything I could do at this point. Thanks to your support, the number of downloads of Raindrop has exceeded 1,000, and the browser version has been played by many people. To my delight, I was even allowed to give a lecture on game making in front of students. For me, the development of this game was a great success. However, I never thought that I would have to live with this game for another two years. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44714141/44164affb1c896ce52aa92c7d553b60cb3c1aa54.jpg[/img] Commemorative photo after a lecture at my alma mater, with my classmate Daisuke Amaya. [h2][Follow-up][/h2] [h3]No specifications[/h3] I know it is not a good story, but from the beginning to the present, there is no such thing as a game specification. Everything was created while thinking in my head, and I relied only on the feel of the game to bring it to completion. [h3]Fixed screen / 1 lever, 1 button[/h3] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44714141/e16492099ce536e0d2b4657e8f4d5312c7021166.jpg[/img] I am a firm believer in the arcade games of the 80s, such as "Mario Bros. (Nintendo)" "Dig Dug (Namco)" "Pooyan (Konami)" and I am still fascinated by their simple structure and deep gameplay. Naturally, the games I make follow that style, and I believe that there is still much that can be done with the expressions of those days. I believe that the simpler the control system is, the better, so I use 1 lever and 1 button. [h3]Why the cat's paw as the main character?[/h3] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44714141/6bf18b3945845a0bf5125add0904bea2af59ea85.jpg[/img] Because it's cute. At first, I was thinking of using a human palm as the main character, but it was kind of scary. Also, I simply didn't have the artistic ability. The reason I chose the palm was because I was playing with the idea of holding out my hand from the crosswalk to the outside to avoid the rain. [h3]Give praise anyway[/h3] When a player overcomes a difficulty and achieves something, I made a conscious effort to praise them anyway. With messages on the screen, prominently showing the score, and with easy-to-understand fanfare, I thought it would help them feel good about moving on to the next challenge. The way the sounds and messages are presented is influenced by "Sky Kid (Namco)" and "Bubble Bobble (Taito)". [h3]Guiding the player with sound[/h3] Four different jingles are played each time a goal is reached, and there is a little secret to this melody. Without going into details, the first and third jingles are the beginning, and the second and fourth jingles are the end. In this way, each time a goal is reached, the player will want to hear the next jingle, in other words, the goal is to guide the player. As a side note, the pleasantness of this jingle was influenced by the jingle for obtaining the treasure chest in "The Mystery of Atlantis (Sunsoft)". [h3]The last 5 challenges[/h3] When changing from an endless game to a game with an ending, I thought it would be interesting if the nature of the game was the exact opposite anyway. The players had been able to run through the game at a rapid pace, but for the last five runs, I made them cautious and focused to the limit. To further drive the point home, I made sure to surprise the more advanced players with a Star Fever performance. If your hearts are racing, I will be happy. [h3]Score some fun[/h3] Players are happy when they get bonus items and excited when breaking a high score...It doesn't get much attention these days, but I love scores, and I always paid attention to how they work. Scores obtained by taking risks can raise a player's excitement ("Omega Fighter (UPL)" was a great one, wasn't it?) At Raindrop, I had players set a goal of 1 million points, and adjusted the difficulty and score distribution so that they could exceed it if they tried hard enough. I think that was what made the game so addictive. [h3]Let the player think about it[/h3] Raindrop has a mountain of hidden elements, but the game cycle is short so that trial and error is not a hardship. The same goes for the score system and badge system; we wanted players to enjoy trying things out and thinking things through.