"Navigating the Maze of Unit Upgrades and Building Placement"

Author: Miguel Martinez Olivares

Posted on: 08/17/2023.

The Problem

One of the challenges I faced this week was twofold: First, the game lacked a mechanism to cancel building placements, which led to player frustration when they accidentally placed a building in an undesired location. Second, the game needed a structured way to unlock advanced units, making the gameplay less strategic and chaotic. Both issues were crucial to address for enhancing the end-user experience.

 Problem Solution

Cancelling Building Placement

The issue with building placement was that once a player initiated the building process, there was no way to cancel it. This was problematic because it could lead to irreversible mistakes. To solve this, I implemented a feature allowing players to cancel the building placement by simply left clicking.

Implementing a Technology Tree

The absence of a technology tree made the game less engaging. Units could be built without prerequisites, removing any sense of progression or strategy. I introduced a tier and race system to tackle this, creating a technology tree for unit upgrades. Now, players can only build advanced units if they have built at least one unit of the current tier for that race.

Both of these changes significantly improve the gameplay experience. The cancel building feature adds a layer of flexibility and forgiveness, while the technology tree introduces a strategic depth to the game, making each decision more impactful.