Questions and Suggestions
Posted by Hacker on March 9, 2024I have a few questions about the game for the developer.
First, how did you create the game, did you use a template, a framework, or just regular javascript.
Second, how did you create the images, most of them seem AI generated but I just wanted to check.
Third, I am trying to be a game developer myself, is there a way I can help contribute to Gacha Pets?
And now, the suggestions.
• When picking a number such as the minimum quantity in the auction house, or picking how many items you want to sell in the consignment shop, couldn't you just replace that with a simple number input so you wouldn't have to put all those buttons.
• Adding small photos or thumbnails to each of the places (eg. Barracks, Locksmith, Market)
• Adding a search bar to the auction house item selection
• Making the layout more generally organized
Again, if you add these to the game, it will definitely improve the gameplay, and please try to respond to the questions.
Replies
malero on March 9, 2024
The current version of the game doesn't use a well known framework, library or engine. I created a simple javascript library years ago and that's the only thing I've been using so far. I have been messing around with LitJS and will most likely start using it to improve the UI. I haven't put a lot of time in polishing the UI since the majority of players play on Alexa or with a screen reader. That's starting to change, though. I recently created a Steam store page and it has been bringing in quite a few new players to the browser version. I wasn't really expecting any traffic to the Steam store page or it to be noticed much, but a few hundred people have signed up from it so far in just a week and a half. Steam has hundreds of millions of users, so I guess that makes sense. It has also brought a ton of bots to the site and I've been working hard to prevent them from causing too much trouble. The crazy thing is, the Steam store page has a release date of "To be announced" and it's already being seen by thousands of people. Unfortunately, the game is very far away from where I would like it to be to release it on Steam or any other platform. But from the website traffic and wishlists I've received so far, it seems like it would be very smart to start polishing the UI and try to release it as soon as I can.
I started out with buying all of the images for pets and items, but have recently switched mostly to AI generated images. I'm not an artist and it takes too much time to browse asset stores to find what you want. I'd say buying assets and keeping a consistent art style is harder than generating them with AI. I need to redo a lot of the AI stuff I've generated. I had pretty low standards and wasn't sure exactly the art style I wanted when I first started generating backgrounds and other images, but I feel like I have a better idea now.
I'm not ready to bring on anyone to help yet. The game's codebase is quite large and would take a lot of time to teach someone how to be productive. And I don't really want to have someone help without me being able to pay them, and the game doesn't make enough money for that yet.
Your UI suggestions are good and I've added them to my to-do list. Thanks for taking them time to write them out and sorry for the long reply. haha
I understand you don't want to bring anyone to help yet, but when you do, I don't need pay, I want to make this a more fun thing for myself. Also, if I just have a small look of the code I am usually able to pick up to it. I am a fast learner and I won't take to much time to teach. If you do allow me to help and modify the game, I will assure that to-do list will become short in no time and things will be a lot cleaner. I'll mostly be able to help on the layout and graphic design, but I'm also proficient in Javascript and can help there too. Thank you for your consideration.
If you see this, can you please follow up and keep me update, thanks!