A Koi Story

This Rogue-like was my first ever fully published game. It was an 8 month solo build from October 2021 - May 2022 where I did everything from ideation to publishing on itch.io. I iterated on 2 major mechanics and have a lot of pride in my UX enhancements.

Attack Mechanics

The early feedback included providing input feedback and emphasis on the special attacks. The most powerful attack didn't feel that way, and they felt the game was stuttering when the attack cooldowns just hadn't finished.  To fix the cooldown issues, I added some cooldown indicators to give a visual indication that the attacks were ready.  To address how the attacks felt, I added new sounds, a more intense particle effect, and a bit of kickback to help communicate the intended intensity.

Procedural Foliage

A major emphasis on the project was the procedural nature of the path. While I didn't have the time to make the path more than visually different each time, I made sure the foliage changed as the players got closer to the top.  It transitions from large, medium, and small trees to bushes, rocks, and flowers to simulate transitioning to the alpine zone.

UX Enhancements

Towards the end of development, I found that the level-up screen was confusing to the players.  I removed the numbers being displayed and instead added bars that showed how close to maximum they were.  This made the game's system much easier to grasp. In addition, I added a height indicator to communicate to the player how close to the top of the mountain they were getting. I got a lot of positive feedback once I added this simple element.