This blog covers MechDog's approach to "Game Juice" and the process that was followed when "juicing up" the game.
Everything you see in this post is work in progress.
Defining Game Juice
"Game Juice" or "Game Feeling" can be defined as something that accentuates feedback in a game. A few examples of Game Juice would be a projectile exploding into sparks upon impact, a dust cloud being created on jumps, or a camera zooming in during consecutive gun fire.
Gun-Jam (2014)
That's a boiled down version of the definition. The term can be interpreted in more lofty ways such as something that enhances the feel of a game. The shared idea between the term's interpretations is that it's a way to improve a game by enhancing existing elements in a game rather than creating brand new ones.
Making Game Juice
When juicing up a game, I keep creativity at the core of the process; but there are also two guides I use to make sure the juice doesn't come out too sour.
Make sure it's stylish
Doing something impressive with seemingly little effort is stylish. All games create this relationship where the player inputs something into the game, and then the game displays feedback to the player. So in order to make an action stylish, let's make the feedback noticeably awesome even if the player's input is relatively small.
There's no major expense in this case for rewarding a lot for a little. Doing a small movement on the analog stick and pressing a button can be met with an "equivalent" feedback or a "juiced" feedback.
"Equivalent"
"Juiced"
MAKE SURE IT ADDS CLARITY
While game juice is largely about flair, it's also about improving clarity. In MechDog, there are three ways to move up vertically.
The regular jump emits a smoke plume that launches MechDog off the ground, the thrust ignites MechDog's thrusters (eventually emitting black smoke when nearing it's max use), and the enemy bounce causes a massive explosion that throws MechDog into the air. Associating unique flair to each action lets the player easily recognize that the game is responding to their different decisions.
Design
WHY IS GAME JUICE SO IMPORTANT?
Games requires a base level of feedback in order to be playable. Players read feedback to understand how their actions affected the game. When that feedback is strong and highly responsive, the game can feel alive. Game juice enhances the connection between the player and the game, which colors all other player-game interactions.
Are there wrong ways to do game juice?
Going back to my two guides for game juice. I find it massively important to ensure that clarity is never drowned out by style. It's sometimes a fine line to walk, but I think a good rule to follow is: the less actions there are available to the player, the more stylish the feedback can be. It's why MechDog is a good game to talk about game juice; as an mobile endless runner there is a smaller list of actions the player can do.