Scrambled Eggs - Steam Release
This is the full release of the “Scrambled Eggs” game jam entry for the GMTK Game Jam 2023; more information on that, as well as the design considerations and development of the gameplay can be found here.
Following positive feedback from other game jam entrants and others, we decided to turn our submission into a full game, with the intention of releasing on PC and mobile platforms. We set ourselves a 1 year deadline, and aimed to have the final game ready by July 2024.
Our initial concept for the game was a world-based system, where players progress through levels, unlocking vehicles and new chickens as they advance. Each world would be based on a specific environment, such as an urban downtown or a construction site. Specially designed levels would be built introducing vehicles and their mechanics, and level-based gimmicks would keep the game fresh and exciting, such as an airport-based “world” with conveyor belts and security gates.
After developing a prototype of this concept for a couple of months, alongside adding more vehicles and chickens, we reflected upon our progress and decided to rework the game progression away from a world-based system, and more towards a roguelike format. We moved away from the world-based system due to the ideas being too big in scope for our team’s size, time constraints preventing us from developing more than a couple of worlds before the deadline, and our team not having a designated artist, meaning that it took longer to create art to a good standard.
We decided on a roguelike format for various reasons, including keeping the game within our scope, emphasizing arcade gameplay, and adding more replay value to the overall game.
As part of the roguelike gameplay, there would be a shop in which players are given a set amount of money, and can spend it on vehicles to change their loadout or to upgrade their assets (e.g. lives). I was tasked with designing and developing the shopfront. I wanted to implement a drag and drop system for the shop as it is a common format for shops in other popular games, so it would feel intuitive to the player.
During development, we used player feedback to influence our choices. For instance, players wanted a way to learn about each vehicle’s abilities in the shop to make an informed decision, so I added an info button that shows a popup describing how the vehicle works and what terrain they can be used on.
During playtesting, the main issue we encountered was that the the players weren’t finding the game challenging. Players tended to spend their money on extra lives instead of making more interesting decisions and upgrading their loadout. We then had to determine the most effective ways to combat this. Previously, players could buy up to 10 lives, but we decided to reduce this to 5 to increase the challenge. This change prevented players from creating an excessive safety net and encouraged them to take more risks, leading to more engaging gameplay with players often having only 1-2 lives and, in turn, making the game more challenging.
I was also tasked with making the trailer. I decided to make the trailer 45 seconds long to keep it condensed, while also constantly demonstrating a variety of contentwithout making it feel overwhelming. It also showed the full gameplay loop, having players buy from the shop and then use their cars in-game. It also teased the viewer with other, stronger vehicles, piquing their curiosity and making them more likely to play the game.
On 22nd July 2024, the game was released on Steam. Within 3 days, we hit 5,400 claimed copies. Reviews were positive, with a lot of people praising the addictive nature of the game and the easy to pick up gameplay. Within a week, players had reached over 30 million points on the leaderboard, demonstrating the competitiveness of the game. By the end of the month, over 900 people had played the game and feedback remained positive.
Upon reflection, I’m happy with the final product. I think it casts a wide appeal and successfully expands on the gameplay that people enjoyed from the game jam, without compromising the essence of what makes it fun. There was a strong team dynamic where everyone built upon each other’s ideas and made them better.
If I was to restart the project with my current knowledge, I would focus on making the score system more fleshed out. Due to the game being endless, the only limit to the player’s score is the time that they’re willing to commit, which isn’t a reward of skill. I would much prefer to reward player skill while keeping session lengths manageable. The current leaderboard system is exponential, in which players can earn 1000-5000 points per level in the early game and over 100,000 points in later levels. To a new player seeing the leaderboard for the first time, these multi-million point scores seem unattainable, leading to decreased morale and less motivation to continue playing. This could explain why the average playtime is only 6 minutes – they don’t feel like they have personal growth. In comparison, a game like HYPER DEMON has gameplay that could be endless (since it is also survival based), but the score is constantly ticking down, forcing the player to rack up combos often to maintain their score. Additionally, HYPER DEMON’s world records only take place over the course of 2-3 minutes, similarly to a casual player’s run (even though the gameplay is survival).
If we had more time, I’d want to make an additional mode more akin to a “Chaos” mode, where the gameplay loop is still survival based, but the intensity is ramped up and the points system rewards skill instead of survivability, with a point rewards system similar to Peggle. In Peggle, the player gets “Style points” for doing certain actions, like hitting a long shot or doing an “extreme slide”, so in the case of Scrambled Eggs, players could be rewarded for killing a certain type of chicken with a specific vehicle, rewarding skill-based plays. I would also like to add the game to mobile stores as I think it would reach a lot more people and is better suited to the casual style of gameplay, but unfortunately, the financial aspect of adding it to mobile means that it wouldn’t be feasible without adding advertisements.