It’s been a couple of weeks since my last programming update, but we’ve been busy behind the scenes getting Box Directive into a state where we could finally put it in front of a few friends and see what they thought.
I’ll admit, it was a little nerve racking! After spending so long working on something, there’s always that worry that somebody will sit down, give it a go and tell you it simply doesn’t work.
Fortunately, that wasn’t the case, and the feedback has given us a bit more confidence in the direction we’re heading.
A Change in Direction
If you’ve been following these programming updates, you’ll know we’ve spent quite a bit of time developing the individual packing stations and their associated minigames.
The problem I was running into was finding ways to make each of those minigames meaningful and, more importantly, ensuring they wouldn’t become repetitive after packing hundreds of boxes.
We were still leaning quite heavily on the traditional incremental formula of making numbers go up, with the minigames providing something for the player to do between upgrades. It worked in principle, but I wasn’t convinced it was enough to carry the game.
So we decided to try something different.
Rather than having the player work through a series of predefined packing minigames, we’ve shifted towards a more deduction based approach (think papers, please). Players receive an order, consult the company Handbook, work out which policies apply and then physically build the order themselves.
It gives the game a much clearer focus. You’re an employee trying to get through increasingly complicated orders while the company continues to throw more rules and requirements your way.
The nice thing is that we hadn’t gone too far down the original minigame route. I’d deliberately held off developing those systems in too much detail until we’d tested the idea, and much of the underlying input and interaction code could be reused.
Putting It to the Test
With a small vertical slice of this new approach working, we finally handed the prototype over to a few friends.
It was great seeing other people play something we’ve spent so much time building, even if I was quietly worrying about everything that could go wrong!
Once they started getting to grips with the packing loop, and I could explain how it would eventually fit alongside the other planned features, the feedback became really encouraging.
One of the most useful comments was that they could already see the potential for an addictive gameplay loop, provided we get the pacing and constant sense of progression right.
Of course, they also found bugs and suggested plenty of improvements, but that’s the whole point of testing. More importantly, it confirmed that there was something tangible here worth building on.
For me, the biggest difference is that Box Directive now feels more like a game with its own identity, rather than an incremental game relying primarily on bigger numbers to keep players interested.
From Prototype to Game
There’s still a long way to go, though.
The current prototype is very much a controlled vertical slice, with several shifts and their progression hard coded to demonstrate how the gameplay could work.
The next challenge is pulling that apart and reconnecting everything to the wider game systems so progression happens naturally through the player’s decisions and achievements.
First, I’ll be cleaning up some of the bugs identified during testing. After that, the focus will be rebuilding the shift structure around actual progression triggers rather than predetermined sequences.
That should make the next round of playtesting particularly interesting. Instead of simply seeing whether players enjoy a handful of scripted shifts, we’ll be able to see how long it takes them to reach certain milestones, how quickly they progress and whether the game remains engaging along the way.
For now, though, I’m happy we’ve taken the time to question the original approach rather than simply pushing ahead with it.
There’s plenty of programming ahead, but at least we’re starting to get a much clearer picture of the game we want Box Directive to become.
Until next time!
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