Simple, yet captivating. In Chicken's Run, you fight hordes of dinosaurs with an army of chickens. Winner of the Fun category, it was one of the 1900 games created in one week for the Brackeys Game Jam.
Genre: Arcade, Bullet Hell;
Engine: Unity;
Team Size: 2;
Development Time: 7 dias;
Platform: Web (HTML5);
Website: https://4maumau.itch.io/chickens-run
Papéis e Responsabilidades:
Game Design:
Invisible Tutorial;
Game Balance;
Game feel;
AI Design;
Programação:
Multi-target dynamic camera system;
Spawn System;
Enemy AI;
Cummulative Screenshake;
Invisible Tutorial
The first few minutes of a game are crucial to captivate and retaining the player, especially in a free-to-play game. That's why I always dedicate special time to make the game tutorial as natural and immersive as possible. In Chicken's Run, the game starts with 6 chickens in the center of the camera and 4 eggs scattered around them. The only tutorial text consists of four words at the bottom of the screen, teaching the player how to jump. As the player moves, they instinctively head towards the eggs, which are the sole point of interest on the screen. Upon colliding with an egg, another chicken appears. This allows the player to become accustomed to the controls and learn the main game mechanics: walking and collecting eggs to obtain more chickens. Only after collecting the first egg do the enemies start to appear. The initial dinosaur hordes are deliberately spaced apart in time to allow the player to become familiar with the game's rules. When an enemy is defeated, there's a chance it will drop an egg; however, by this point, the player is already aware of the egg's purpose. This approach allows the player to organically learn the entire game loop, without the need for intrusive pop-ups or lengthy texts that can disrupt immersion.
Risk-Reward
The eggs create a risk-reward dynamic: the player must decide between playing it safe and gaining nothing or diving onto the enemy in the hope of coming out with more chickens than before. To encourage risk-taking - as these are the moments where the most memorable experiences happen - the chickens that hatch from the eggs have a second of invincibility. This provides time to escape from the midst of enemies and avoid instant death.
Particles
When the chickens or dinosaurs die, they release particles that remain on the ground for 15 seconds. These particles make the act of killing enemies much more satisfying. Moreover, they stay on the ground for a significant amount of time, serving as a visual testament to the intense combat that took place in that location
Cummulative Screenshake
The game is all about gathering chickens and intensifying the action on the screen. That's why I decided to use the technique of cumulative screen shake, inspired by Squirrel Eiserloh: when one chicken jumps, not much is noticed, but when 100 chickens jump at the same time, the ground trembles as if a T-Rex were passing by. This effect is another positive feedback for the player for successfully assembling an army. Screenshake is also triggered by projectile collisions and chicken deaths.
Dynamic Zoom
The game features dynamic zoom, where the camera widens as your army grows larger and spreads out. This serves two purposes: to always keep all the chickens within the player's field of view and to assist with the pacing of the game. When the player experiences significant losses, the camera zooms in on the remaining chickens. This conveys a sense of claustrophobia: the player knows that enemies are still out there but can no longer see them, adding to the heightened tension of being on the verge of losing the game.
