https://300gcurryrice.itch.io/solitaire-j4 (password: 300g_jockey)
I've been working on gameplay for a timed solitaire game, and I'd be happy if you played the 10-minute mechanics beta (seven chunks of roughly-1-minute gameplay, plus change) and let me know how it felt!
the game plays in-browser - optimally it should be played on phone in portrait orientation, but it works on desktop as well.
depending on your window or phone size, it may look a little ugly since my responsive layout kind of isn't at the moment (please resize your window as needed) (EDIT: wow this screenshot is big on cohost sorry)
more detailed dev diaries after the cut, though I encourage you to play first!
dev diaries: overview
as you might guess from the password, the mechanics for this game were inspired by Pocket Card Jockey, a charismatic little 3DS game that mixes golf solitaire, character raising, and a lot of wit.
my goal is to create a ~one-hour length arcade gameplay experience; if you consider the beta above to be "one race", I'd want the "full game" to be a handful of these (with minor variations on difficulty and structure), with story snippets and obtaining upgrades in-between (examples of such upgrades are seen at the start of the beta).
of course, the whole loop doesn't mean much if the core element (the solitaire) doesn't have the right vibe, and so here we are with the mechanics beta. so please give it a shot and let me know what your experience was like!
the questions on my mind, that I'm asking both myself and you, are kind of like:
- at a base level, does playing solitaire in this way feel good? do the two modes of solitaire feel different?
- as players gain familiarity, can they improve their strategy and see higher scores as a result
- just in general, how fast beginner and veteran players can Do Solitaire (and, as a subquestion, how much solve time varies depending on good / bad deals)
dev diaries: basic design
in terms of how I designed the current beta, I wanted to implement multiple "styles" of golf solitaire to diversify the gameplay experience - thus the Heats, where the goal is to rush to specific high-value cards, and the Laps, which reward careful play that clears every card.
aside from the timer / pile size differences in each, each one has slightly different scoring mechanisms to incentivize the appropriate playstyle, and the powerups in each mode (whether it be raw score bonuses, timer boosts, or skill meter) provide a bit of decision-making texture in terms of what columns to prioritize.
both gameplay types are repeated multiple times in a single race to smooth out the RNG when it comes to the deal, and the timers are tuned on the strict side to raise the skill ceiling a bit higher. I think it's not intuitive that the Heats right now are probably harder to maximize than the Laps, given their low time limit, but also I very rarely perfect clear Laps right now sooooo shrug emoji
dev diaries: long-term
the element I'm least happy with right now is the boost (sorry for the repeated terminology - the super meter thingy, basically). the idea is to give the user a "mash zone" where they can pause their brain and just throw down cards as fast as possible, but I think it's actually counter-productive in Lap mode right now and in Heat mode I just use it to get extra time.
I'd say "sooo that's probably getting adjusted" but if I carry this game through to production, the super abilities are going to get hard reworked anyway; my overall goal would be to make a few different bases ("cars", in this analogy) that have unique signature powers, and let the players staple modular upgrades onto it to customize it to their tastes. in terms of unique powers, imagine getting to pick 1 of 2 cards from the top of the deck, or to be able to move a card from the bottom of a pile to the top. "change the way you strategize" kinda stuff.
of course, long term, balancing is always hell, both in terms of different loadouts and in terms of setting target scores for players, and I only pray that there's enough wiggle room in this formula to make skill the dominant factor (rather than RNG) in achieving high scores
dev diaries: bonus
I felt like making scores strictly additive, which is why you don't lose points for not getting cards (you just don't gain the points you would have gotten for those cards), but also mistakes cost 20 points because I realized otherwise a valid cheese tech is to just mash all piles (or similar)
okay I'm out of words now have a good night
