HiWish
ROLES
Lead Game Designer
Lead Game Developer
OVERVIEW
I got the inspiration from the casual game Gold Miner which provides a short and exciting experience at each level, based on that I add in a randomized level reward system to create a unique and interesting game progression. HiWish is a combination of a mini-game and roguelike elements. It has simple control which is left, right, jump, and dash. Players control an avatar to collect treasures and avoid rocks. Between each level, there is a shop system that generates random upgrades and abilities skills. The upgrades enhance players' controls, treasure values, survivability, and others. The two major skill branches players can choose are increasing jewelry value or earning money with crashing stones. Depending on players' playstyle and the random generating, each gameplay will be unique and fun!
YEAR/DURATION
2022/Three Weeks
GENRE
Roguelike Treasure Collecting
DEVELOPER
Chenyang Xu
Lingxiao Wang
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PLATFORM
PC
Drop Spanwer System
The spawner will generate Gold, Diamon, Pouch, and Rock. When the level increases, the Rock drop rate will rise, the spawning rate will increase, drop speed will also increase. Oringinally I set only one spawner to cover the whole area, then I realize the spawning pattern is too random sometimes it can be too concentrated in one spot. Then I divide the big spawner into 4 smaller size spawner in the level.
Level Progression
Between each level, except for the spawner difficulty increase, there are a lot of other levels progression elements I have to calculate. Such as all the cost and increasing cost of perks and abilities, all the treasure values and upgrades values, level goal increase rate, and character health and energy. I ended up doing a lot of playtesting to see the average player earning each level, and then draw the best-fit equation line to make the level goal. Then I balanced other perks to make sure there isn't a dominant strategy.
Energy Shield
I designed and built two types of shields. A vertical shield while the character is jumping, and a horizontal shield while running. I want the player to use the correct shield in different situations.
Roguelike Shop
The Money player collected can be used to purchase upgrades and abilities in the shop. There are two randomly generated upgrades, the third slot can be unlocked with coins, which can be Dashing Speed, Energy Meter, Jump Height, Jump Length, HP, Diamond Spawn Rate, and other perks. The two major skills on the top left increase jewelry or stone values by each level.
