So I’ve finished my prototype for a stealth game I’m making and I play it and I seem to have a good time, no bugs anything like that but I feel like the game isnt as fun or engaging.
It has two main and only mechanics which are hiding behind walls, and special vision too see the enemies
Hide Mechanic:
Vision Mechanic:
Is there anything that youd think would make it more engaging to the player and actually put a smile on their face while playing?
Since it’s a stealth game I’m not sure what other mechanics would help the player feel more engaged in the game other than hiding behind a wall
Well when I think of stealth I automatically think of ninjas. So for me to enjoy something like this id probably enjoy a wall climbing/ledge hanging aspect to the game. Also you could try making the level a bit bigger or make multiple levels with harder npcs. Like the npc could have a sense ability to see everything in a 250aoe. You could give the player an ability to check when thats on cooldown. You could also add more npc’s that walk through paths and the player has to hide in the shadows to avoid them. Add like light posts and lamps that the player has to go through or avoid to prevent npcs from seeing them. Aside from all that theres no real goal in your prototype its really just not being seen. You should make some type of objective to complete, like picking up a flag or like a file.
You could make it a game where there is more to do, like hang from tops of walls, and a noise bar, so they can’t move too quickly. Maybe they can buy new outfits and there can be mutliple levels, each one getting harder and harder.
Well the prototype was just built to get all the core game functions and put it into one thing
The AI, the two main mechanics, and a basic level design this was just too see if the game was fun enough to actually further develop but i havent really gotten feedback on if its either fun or engaging so im just really lost
And yes it is a “kid scooting across a wall”, but it helps you stay undetected since the AI looks for your face and it cant see you when your using the mechanic unless there right in front of view or just your in their field of vision
If there’s a currency in your game, you can build a whole engagement system off of it.
For example, with currency you can buy perks/taunts/skins/pets/hats/whatever.
To get currency you have to survive. You can go an extra mile and reward extra currency to players who are near the enemies, like every second spent near the enemy without dying you’ll get 10 coins.
Possibly objectives to do while hiding, like maybe you can turn on a power box or something to blind the enemies/create fake noise.
I’m not entirely sure how your game works, so some of these ideas might not work, but adding engagement is as simple as thinking “How can I make the player be invested in the game.”
Just add currency rewards/badge rewards/something fun to spend currency on and boom you’ll have people running around playing the game.
Rolling over walls, Being able to attack the Ghosts, Transparency 0.5 Dummy models.
Yeah those are just my ideas, just saying it needs more than just 2 mechanics.
maybe you could add some music, and if you’re inspired in entry point or notoriety you could probably add a loud mode with its own music too
you could also add a detection bar (again, entry point/notoriety)
and if you dont have this yet, you could add a gun that the player can use to kill enemies and not worry about them, but the other enemies can still detect the body
you should also make the gun customizable before beginning each level so you can change it from a pistol to a rifle or a sniper, etc
Things that allow for the player to create their own strategy. Such as decoys or flash grenades. Camera bobbing and like a stamina system would be cool.
A stealth race game would be cool kinda like flood escape in map layout/size. If you go too fast and get caught you get back to the start losing valuable time and a possible 1st place ending.