This is the video I used that analyse 10 Second Ninja: Analysis link. This video is lengthy, but thought it would help with my project, because it is very similar to my game. It’s a puzzle game, but not exactly the same.
I chose this game, because the mechanics are similar, the only differences are, my game have no melee attacks or time limit and 10 Second Ninja doesn’t have switches to my knowledge. Traps may come into my game, but that will be revealed within time.
Through this analysis I have learnt a few ways I can spice up my game, for example: I can utilise the puzzle game being a platformer by adding in puzzles that uses a jump mechanic to complete a puzzle.
10 Second Ninja uses a time limit of 10 seconds to make the game interesting and I think without the time limit, it wouldn’t be fun, which is making me consider adding a time limit in. By adding in a time limit, it can make a level repayable, because players would want to play a level over and over again to try to beat their previous high score. If I did add this, I would add it to the player’s HUD and reset it every level they enter into or press the reset button.
10 Second Ninja does the same thing as Thomas Was Alone did, which is making a puzzle that utilities the player’s mechanics and not making mechanics for a puzzle to work, aka make the mechanics first and use them as tools to make the puzzles. I am thinking about this quite a bit and will be including this recommendation into my level designs. A perfect example for this recommendation is 10 Second Ninja, because if it included switches, buttons and other obstacles to the puzzles, the puzzles would feel weird, but because they didn’t do that and made puzzles about movement and quick combat, aka using the player’s mechanics. The game feels right and how it should be, so it is more fun this way.
The puzzles are short and quick, which makes me consider if I should make my puzzles short, long or somewhere in between, because all 3 can work in their own way, but I think it is about consistency that makes the game fun, so I think the best puzzle length for me would be short at the beginning and slowly increasing the length and time of the puzzles throughout the levels.
This analysis has taught me to make puzzles around my mechanics, pick the puzzle length and keep it consistent throughout my game.
Game Growth 