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  • Fossil Sweeper - minesweeper meets palaeontology (was Bonesweeper)

I recall standing before the door to my apartment with a wooden box, in it a pile of human bones from an archaeological excavation, the long ones sticking out over the rim, a partly assembled skull on top, fumbling for the key when the neighbour stepped out of her door and turned pale. I was the talk of the tenement.

It was a rescue excavation and there wasn't enough room in the uni to spread them all, so some people had to take stuff with them for assembly and statistics:-)

    13 days later

    Another status update video! It's still very bare bones but I'm excited to be moving onto museum gameplay

    I find this a really nice and thoughtfully made project :-)

    a month later

    Another month, another progress update ^_^

    a month later

    And another update video. Not a lot of big work from me over the past month or so, but I'm excited to have some new music from the composer I'm working with and first audio from the sound designer I'm working with. I also touch on recently having a chat with a local palaeontologist.

    23 days later

    It's that time again! Getting some of the rarity systems implemented, and fleshing out base museum functionality

    The whole earth 3d portion of the game seems like deadly feature creep and I'd suggest just getting out the minesweeper part of the game, even possibly excluding the museum/skeleton part. This could be supplanted early with just a "you unlocked x/10 parts of skeleton y" unlocks. IMHO you are going too far away TOO FAST from the regular game loop. Also I drank every time you said the word chunk. Cheers to the chunks that come up later. Also if you do a diff accent next time I'll add more feedback. <3

      I like the approach the game takes. I find it lives from the atmosphere it creates, and being not as straightforward as a shooter imho belongs to it.

      Actually, real world excavations are often times subdivided into squares, for documentation and reconstruction purposes, and to assign responsibilities to workers. 3D is really important when it comes to judging a stratigraphy, and a timeline.

      Idk how far @Cheeseness wants to take it, but I think he's on a good way.

        Erich_L Hi! These are some very large scope alterations you're suggesting. What leads you to think they are a good idea?

        I've already shipped a version of the game that's just the dig and assembly phases. I'm not sure what I'd gain by removing features that are already functional in this larger version.

          Pixophir Right! There are some fun parallels between Minesweeper and palaeontology! Very early on, I experimented with having suspended string divide up the dig grid, but it was more visually complex and harder to "read" than the kind of presentation that's in the game at the moment.

          My angle for this project is "how can I best make Minesweeper fun/interesting for someone with my tastes?" rather than "How can I best depict palaeontology in a game?" so I'm OK with just hinting at some of these things or leaving them out if they lead away from the game I'm making.

          The museum is where I'm planning to surface more real-world information. In Hive Time, I added a "bee fact" to the bottom of every Beepedia page as a way of guiding players toward learning more about bees, and I want to do a similar thing here with unlockable museum displays (although research will be the primary focus rather than a footnote).

            Cheeseness The museum is where I'm planning to surface more real-world information. In Hive Time, I added a "bee fact" to the bottom of every Beepedia page as a way of guiding players toward learning more about bees, and I want to do a similar thing here with unlockable museum displays (although research will be the primary focus rather than a footnote).

            When a game not only entertains, but also teaches — it is excellent. I wish there were more games like that. Ideally, any game should have something new and interesting to learn. 🧑‍🏫

            Cheeseness

            "I've already shipped a version of the game"

            In that case ignore what I said, I bet you got all the feedback you need. Congrats

              a month later

              Erich_L Thanks!

              In general though, I'm not sure that the advice you've given is particularly helpful even if I hadn't shipped the prototype mentioned in the first post/didn't have testers giving feedback on the game along the way/hadn't had my GDD externally assessed as part of my grant application process. I have difficulty reconciling how strongly worded it was with just how much assumption it seems to carry.

              Everybody works differently of course, but broadly speaking, there is a lot of value from a project management perspective in front-loading your unknowns as a way of managing the impact of things taking longer than expected. For this reason, the map and museum were the very first things I gave attention to when I started production, and that initial work has allowed me to more reliably plan the rest of development.

              On a more direct note, if the core premise of my project is "Minesweeper with metaprogression" as explained in the thread, recommending that all metaprogression elements be removed comes across as very dismissive of the game's concept - there may be valid reasons to question the value of the premise/structure, but calling completed functionality "deadly feature creep" and not elaborating on why you see it that way/what shortcomings you see within it doesn't explore that in the way that asking questions and explaining reasoning would.

              Since I've received funding do develop the game at its current scope, your recommended cuts would be particularly dangerous/risky for this project. The grant mentioned in the first post and each video carries obligations, and if I am found to be in breach of my contract, that will have consequences that would affect more than just this game. From where I'm sitting, that's a much bigger risk to the project and my livelihood than some potential scope creep.

              I've been making games in some form or another for over 30 years now. I like discussing and sharing my work in the hopes that it gives some perspectives/empowerment to others. I often do see people struggling to deal with overscoping or navigating necessary scope changes - they're real hurdles that nearly everybody faces, but I've come to learn that recommendations are less valuable and surface fewer learning opportunities than offering thoughtful perspectives.

              I don't know if any of that is likely to be helpful, but I hope it explains why cutting bigger/scarier features out or leaving them for later isn't a good fit with how I make things. I will, of course, be sure to use the same accent for all of my future dev log videos 😉

                Last devlog video for this year! I've been focused on other projects having birthdays/anniversaries, so I decided to pad this video out with a look back at my first year of production on this game. It was fun to dig up old recordings/concept art (and sketch out the new piece seen at 06:36 while waiting for a draft cut to render). Enjoy!

                Cheeseness the map and museum were the very first things I gave attention to when I started production,

                It shows that you're in contact with real world palaeontology :-)

                The "deeper meaning" behind palaeontology/pre-history/archaeology, though they work with different methods, is documentation of the past real world, and putting things on display for the public.

                I see a bit of that reflected in your work. So, thanks, it's refreshingly cool and I like it :-)

                a month later
                Cheeseness changed the title to Fossil Sweeper - minesweeper meets palaeontology (was Bonesweeper) .

                Running very late on my usual mid-month video 😃