Hello everyone. I'm happy you're here in the new year. Now that PROVIDER is done and out and the launch craziness has settled, I wanted to take a few minutes to sort of reflect on what went well, what didn't, and how future games can be improved. This is sort of a post-mortem but also a way to talk about future projects. This is all in my opinion, which is more influenced by reception than directly correlating to reception
Things that worked pretty well
Things that didn't work so much
All in all, I feel incredibly proud of PROVIDER. I think it's a strong game with some strong themes, fun characters, and an enjoyable core-loop. Both myself and Jesse would be interested in doing a sequel or second season at some point in the future, but we're not sure when that time will come. For now, PROVIDER stands on its own as an oddball experience that would only have come from Alaska.
Thanks,
Wyatt White
Things that worked pretty well
- Level Design Tools
- Image based design tools gave me an excellent leg-up in level creation. I could sketch out new levels in a free-form and expressive way, and players only need Paintdotnet and some patience to re-arrange and play with them. While that's all great, I do talk later about some of the down-sides of the system/
- Episodic Structure
- Some would disagree, but I think episodic stories are fun. I like seeing a variety of ideas and settings and characters. While I still enjoy a good serial story, I think that weaving episodic stories into a larger tapestry brings a great texture and variety to narratives. Whether or not we accomplished that in PROVIDER is another story entirely. I think it worked out. While Curry will be a radically different game, there is inspiration being taken from what worked and what didn't about PROVIDER
- Hub Area
- I'm still infatuated with hub areas. Curry is set to feature a similar hub system. I think it gives players a good safe zone, and an out to hopefully avoid burnout.
- Enemy variation
- While each enemy isn't 100% unique, I was really happy with how well tweaking small elements like timing, speed, and status effects worked for making combat feel different in each area. I would like to experiment more with enemies that steal or impede stamina in a sequel release.
- Fauxpoly Art
- Still love the fauxpoly or "Sprite Stacked" artstyle. Gives a delightful PS1 crunch to art, and is super easy to pull off.
- Combat
- It's not up for any awards, and it gets janky at the edges, but I'm really proud of the simple combat system I was able to put together. I don't know how many found that weapons could be switched mid-combo for quick high-damage hits, but I think that extra little dash of complexity came out really well.
- If I were to do it again, I think the ability to manually aim the firearms would be nice. While the auto-aim works well, it wasn't proper signposted to players, so most thought you had to manually point your character to hit enemies with guns.
- Weather effects
- I was really happy with how well the snow, wind, rain, and lightning effects turned out. Not perfect, and all using things built into GameMaker, but I think they did a lot of lifting when it came to setting and tone
Things that didn't work so much
- Simple levels
- While the level design tools were great for sketching out levels quickly and cheaply, I did find many limitations of the system. The first and probably worst is that with a limited pallete, many levels without a marquee feature or gimmick feel very simmilar.
- The early 1900's remote Yupik village feels pretty close to the 1700's coastal Dena'ina village which felt only a little older than the 2030's post-conflict survivor's colony. It was a failure of my own design to properly scale and change for new environments. While the system had worked well in ThreeStep, that's partially because that game took place in a single region and had a much smaller scoped story
- While the level design tools were great for sketching out levels quickly and cheaply, I did find many limitations of the system. The first and probably worst is that with a limited pallete, many levels without a marquee feature or gimmick feel very simmilar.
- Limited Dialogue
- PROVIDER was originally intended as an action-centric survival game. The heavier focus on story didn't really come up unitl midway through development. instead of make an actual dialogue system like we'd done for previous games, I elected instead to make it a monologue system. This worked fine for most plotpoints, but left Floyd (the main character) almost entirely mute for the majority of the game, and didn't provide the player or character with opportunities to ask questions or seem more detail.
- Ultimately I think it's a failure of formatting that would be rectified in any sequels or continuations.
- PROVIDER was originally intended as an action-centric survival game. The heavier focus on story didn't really come up unitl midway through development. instead of make an actual dialogue system like we'd done for previous games, I elected instead to make it a monologue system. This worked fine for most plotpoints, but left Floyd (the main character) almost entirely mute for the majority of the game, and didn't provide the player or character with opportunities to ask questions or seem more detail.
- Lore Notes
- While the intent was to fill out a zone's backstory and themes without bogging the game down in lengthy dialogue or cutscenes, the lore-note systems seemed more to serve as an easily missable bit of info that left most players slightly (or extremely) confused. It didn't help that several zones like the Mine, Highway, and Bogland had fairly complicated backstories that would make zero sense if the player missed a key note.
- I think in future we'd be best-served with either simpler backstories or more direct narrative in a given level.
- While the intent was to fill out a zone's backstory and themes without bogging the game down in lengthy dialogue or cutscenes, the lore-note systems seemed more to serve as an easily missable bit of info that left most players slightly (or extremely) confused. It didn't help that several zones like the Mine, Highway, and Bogland had fairly complicated backstories that would make zero sense if the player missed a key note.
- NPCs
- NPC's are all static, and with one or two exceptions, don't even really animate. While this was intentional to keep the hub area consistent and make sure players understood the functions and location of each NPC, it also seems to have pushed players into thinking that NPC's were not important or that they werren't worth talking to.
- I didn't help things much by putting NPC's personal quests behind an initial introduction paragraph. The Skinny Dipper, Berry Lady, and Miss Miller all have small fetch/retrieval quests that the player can find by speaking to them twice, but I didn't really signpost that well enough, and most people aren't going to commit that kind of time into a small indie game without a reaaaally good reason.
- NPC's are all static, and with one or two exceptions, don't even really animate. While this was intentional to keep the hub area consistent and make sure players understood the functions and location of each NPC, it also seems to have pushed players into thinking that NPC's were not important or that they werren't worth talking to.
- Nonstandard Structure
- Having a succession of levels that are episodic also hurt the game in some ways. Not having an agressive plotline seemed to push some players away. Feedback said that it felt like chapters that didn't actually advance the Fox storyline felt like filler or pointless. I personally disagree, since the episodes are the whole point of the game, but I do see where the feedback comes from. Thoroughly episodic storytelling is out of fashion right now, and serialized stories are in, so players looking for a throughplot are probably going to be bored or quit long before the serial plot actually kicks into gear.
- Having a succession of levels that are episodic also hurt the game in some ways. Not having an agressive plotline seemed to push some players away. Feedback said that it felt like chapters that didn't actually advance the Fox storyline felt like filler or pointless. I personally disagree, since the episodes are the whole point of the game, but I do see where the feedback comes from. Thoroughly episodic storytelling is out of fashion right now, and serialized stories are in, so players looking for a throughplot are probably going to be bored or quit long before the serial plot actually kicks into gear.
- Inventory & items
- In future, having equipped items still take up inventory space has been pointed out as a flaw or issue. I feel it provides a tactical choice, but I also understand that in a game about collecting and scavenging, the initial low inventory cap can be frustrating.
- In future, having equipped items still take up inventory space has been pointed out as a flaw or issue. I feel it provides a tactical choice, but I also understand that in a game about collecting and scavenging, the initial low inventory cap can be frustrating.
- Level Exploration
- Levels were pretty similar and uniform visually, which made it difficult to push players in specific directions without baking it into the level design. As much as we tried to put alternate paths and hidden areas, most people found it more confusing than engaging to explore.
All in all, I feel incredibly proud of PROVIDER. I think it's a strong game with some strong themes, fun characters, and an enjoyable core-loop. Both myself and Jesse would be interested in doing a sequel or second season at some point in the future, but we're not sure when that time will come. For now, PROVIDER stands on its own as an oddball experience that would only have come from Alaska.
Thanks,
Wyatt White