DEPTH IN SIMPLICITY: THE MAKING OF JETPACK JOYRIDE Luke Muscat - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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DEPTH IN SIMPLICITY: THE MAKING OF JETPACK JOYRIDE Luke Muscat - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Feb 11, 2023 673 likes •1.53k views

DEPTH IN SIMPLICITY: THE MAKING OF JETPACK JOYRIDE Luke Muscat Chief Creative Officer Halfbrick Studios Introductions! Luke Muscat CCO @ Halfbrick Made these: What the hell is this about? Like a post mortem kind of Lots of

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DEPTH IN SIMPLICITY: THE MAKING OF JETPACK JOYRIDE

Luke Muscat

Chief Creative Officer Halfbrick Studios

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Introductions!

  • Luke Muscat
  • CCO @ Halfbrick
  • Made these:
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What the hell is this about?

  • Like a post mortem… kind of
  • Lots of crazy random design points about

Jetpack Joyride

  • More than I can fit into an hour!
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CHAPTER #1: A GAME IN 4 weeks

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4 week game?

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GOALS / PILLARS

  • 1 Button
  • Super accessible
  • Ad break play
  • Depth for the hardcore's
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THE PROTOTYPE

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THE PROTOTYPE

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CHAPTER #2: IT BEGINS

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PREFACE: JSI / RSO

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PROCEDURAL LEVEL GENERATION

  • <3 Levels
  • Only designer on

2 projects = time poor

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TYPES OF ENTITIES

  • Zappers
  • Coins
  • Lasers
  • Missiles
  • Tokens
  • Vehicles
  • Rotating Zappers
  • Coin Streaks
  • Missile Streaks
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INTERVAL SYSTEM

  • Everything is placed by the interval

system.

  • Every entity type has a probability of
  • ccupying next slot.
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INTERVAL SYSTEM

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INTERVAL SYSTEM

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INTERVAL SYSTEM

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MIN INTERVALS = UNFAIR

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MIN INTERVALS = UNFAIR

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Unfair game is unfair

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COSTS OF FAILURE

  • Time lost
  • Feeling of failure
  • Friction on starting again (retry loop)
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TIME LOST

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EMOTIONAL COST

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EMOTIONAL COST

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EMOTIONAL COST

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EMOTIONAL COST

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RESTART FRICTION

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CHAPTER 3: TESTING TIME

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CHRISTMAS 2010

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CHRISTMAS 2010

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PLAYTESTING NINJA STYLES

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PLAYTESTING NINJA STYLES

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REVELATIONS

  • Became obvious that this game needs

more time.

  • Releasing a free, half assed game seems

like the wrong move after Fruit Ninja.

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2 PROBLEMS…

  • Feels hard, and super intense... No low

points in the pacing, always one step away from death.

  • Not enough variety. Players burning out

fast.

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PROBLEM 1: INTENSITY

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3 hearts intensity

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COD STYLE INTENSITY

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Problem 2: VARIETY

How do we add more variety?

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Problem 2: VARIETY

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Problem 2: VARIETY

What if we change the controls...? People HATE it when you do that…

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NEW CONTROLS

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NEW PACING STRUCTURE

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GREAT SUCCESS

  • Pacing = better
  • Variety = better
  • More explosions = more better
  • Game had a big injection of character
  • Player’s quickly developed favourites
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How dumb can we be?

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EASING IN AND OUT

  • First big play test = last years GDC!
  • People would often make critical mistakes

in close proximity to control changes.

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EASING IN AND OUT

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EASING IN AND OUT

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HOW MANY?

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CHAPTER 4: STICKYNESS

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FOUNDATION FOR EXPERIMENTATION

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NEW GOALS / EXPERIMENTS

  • Make an ultra sticky game
  • Try out some IAP / economy type stuff
  • Learn stuff that we don’t know much

about!

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THE SHOP!

  • Provide incentive for the player other

than ‘beat my friends’

  • Allow players to express themselves!
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TIME TO STEAL...

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CHAPTER 5: We Are ON A MISSION

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THE MISSION SYSTEM

  • Inspired by Tiny Wings
  • Wanted to do more, with full reward

structures and avoiding some of the pitfalls such as getting stuck and burning out

  • Will take roughly 1 week… right?
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3 COMPANY TESTS

  • Daily
  • Optional
  • Progressive
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DAILY SYSTEM

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OPTIONAL SYSTEM

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Progressive system

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REWARDS

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Getting visceral

  • Bars filling up were nice, but we really

wanted to give some punchy visceral feedback for completing missions.

  • Stars slam into place, with sparks, dust

etc.

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THE STARS

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SURPRISE MEGA FEATURE

  • Becomes a massive draw to the game.
  • So many layers of goals! (social, status,

personal, intrinsic, extrinsic…)

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PRESTIGE

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FRUIT NINJA VS. JETPACK

  • Smaller audience(?), much much higher

engagement.

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CHAPTER 6: GETTING THAT BASTARD OUT THE DOOR

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PERFORMANCE RANGE

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RETINA

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OH ALSO...

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FINALLY OUT!!!

  • Massive critical reception
  • Instant chart success, thanks to cross

promotional efforts and media storm

  • Worth the extra 1200% effort
  • Could not be happier!
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THANKS!

lmuscat@halfbrick.com

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I KNEW SOMEONE WOULD ASK THIS: