What's up?
[p]I have decided to use my brain for once and address a problem that has plagued the game for a while. Communication. Specifically, the communication of one of the core pillars of the game
Research. There are three core pillars: Containment, Research and Profiteering. And a lot of the changes to the game have been an effort to more effectively communicate those pillars to players.[/p][p][/p][p]The research screen just did a terrible job at providing an easy-to-use to use and understandable interface. I'll leave all the reasons as to why below, but first, let's see a comparison of the new design vs the old.[/p][p][/p]
Redesign
[h2]NEW[/h2][h3]
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Mockup of New Research UI[/h3][p]
Above is a mockup of what the new research screen is going to look like. I'll post what the current one looks like below:[/p][h2]OLD[/h2][h3]
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In-game screenshot of the current research tree[/h3][p][/p]
So why is it changing?
[p]So the problem, as I said earlier, was the fact that it didn't communicate the pillar of research well. What do I mean by that? I'll list all the problems in the following bullet points.[/p][p][/p]
[p]What Sucked[/p]
[p]How I'm fixing that[/p]
[p]The research screen was hard to navigate due to really janky controls (since it was 3D for god knows why)[/p]
[p]The screen will become 2D, with a very intuitive and simple horizontal scroll bar, with early research on the left and later research on the right. Like literally every other video game.[/p]
[p]It was hard to click on research nodes, and you couldn't tell much info about them until you clicked on them, making for a frustrating experience[/p]
[p]Research nodes will take up more presence on the research screen and will display more readily available information[/p]
[p]Every anomaly's research was contained on the research screen in one giant research tree, which made the tree overly complex (and not scalable for the future AT ALL)[/p]
[p]Every anomaly will have its own separate research tree, which keeps things neat and segmented. (God knows why I thought it was a good idea to make it all on the same tree)[/p]
[p]Most of the tree was hidden, with future research slowly revealed through "research proposals". However, this feature isn't very clear, as the nodes were completely invisible, leading to the impression that no research existed at all[/p]
[p]Research nodes will always be visible; some will just be greyed out, or blacked out if they haven't been proposed. This still keeps the feature alive and that sense of scientific discovery, but makes it clear that there is actual content there![/p]
[p][/p][p]That sums up a lot of the issues with the research tree and why it needs to change.[/p][p][/p]
Where did this all come from?
[h3]
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Research Tree from Civilisation V[/h3][p][/p][p]Playtests revealed the jankiness of the research tree, and I thought it was a control issue. But really, it was fundamental. Sunken cost fallacy kept me from changing it because I really liked the whole 3D thin,g cos it felt "unique". But something being unique doesn't mean it works.[/p][p][/p][p]After getting obsessed with Civilisation V, I was inspired by their gorgeous design of their research tree and felt prompted to make the change.[/p][p][/p][p]But I was already looking for a solution to another problem, the fact that anomalies needed separate trees because a single tree wouldn't work for 100 anomalies with 10-20 research nodes (would be a spaghetti mess of a research tree)[/p][p][/p]
Fun Ideas
[p]I just wanted to end on the fun ideas we landed upon. I brainstormed with another team member, and we came up with some interesting ideas regarding the future of research in Containcorp.[/p][p][/p][h2]Special Research Projects[/h2][p]One that stuck was the idea of "Special Research Projects", which would be projects that appear at the end of the research tree for anomalies. These projects would unlock some defining and permanent change to the way you interact with the anomaly, which would signify your completion. We are running with the idea that research sort of "refines" anomalies, akin to how files are refined in Severance (TV show), and that refining an anomaly completely is the process of researching it 100%. We might not stick with the whole "refining" inspiration, but definitely with the idea of endgame research.[/p][p]We had some good ideas with the new anomaly being added to the game, the miniaturised sun. Here's what the special research projects for that anomaly could look like:[/p][p][/p]
[p]Duplicate the anomaly into an artificial one, which is "safer" to exploit energy from.[/p]
[p]Permanently terminate the anomaly by turning it into a black hole, or some other form (to eliminate it/make it dormant/inactive/safe)[/p]
[p]Build a miniaturised Dyson sphere around the anomaly to capture its energy better.[/p]
[p][/p][p]Those are just some examples. But you can see there are a lot of interesting things we could do.[/p][h2]Infinite Research[/h2][p]Another idea, one I had, was that anomalies can have a separate section of their research tree dedicated to infinite research. These would be research nodes not connected to the tree, that you could research forever to make the anomaly easier to contain, or maybe deal more damage against the anomaly, or improve the anomaly's industrial output. You get the point.[/p][p][/p][p]This would allow for anomalies to always have something to research, even if you complete the research tree.[/p][p][/p][p]
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[/p][p]This was loosely inspired by the Continuous Focuses in HOI$, which I always appreciated when playing the game![/p][p][/p]
Case Closed
[p]When writing this, I didn't expect it to become a whole blog post, but there ya go. I suppose I should post more of these, writing blog posts on Steam seems so much easier than on our own separate website![/p][p]The updates to the research tree will be coming to the game over the next few days. A bit of life stuff interrupted my work, but I am back on track. Well, I'm still sort of interrupted this week, but I'll work with what I can.[/p]