No really, sticking to the plan.

I can't believe I didn't listen to myself!

Just two weeks ago I posted a blog entry entitled "The Art of Sticking to the Plan." And here I am veering wildly off the plan and adding bells and whistles - complicating a game that is fun because of the simplicity.

I put out a call everywhere - all the social networking sites got posted to - and all of my [important ;)] friends took a look at Build 18. Most people gave me some lightly positive encouragement, but the overwhelming majority was confused. Gameplay was frustrating, the concept was not clear,  and overall - people didn't have fun. I should have listened to myself, I should have stuck to the plan!

I'm going to go ahead and blame this on gameplay experimentation and not really worry about it too much. I only lost two days development time on all these weird gameplay ideas, and at least I have a recorded demo of what the gameplay could be like if I ever want to go back and try again.

As the biggest complaint was the control scheme - which is largely a relic of the original (archaic) design - I have switched changed in the mouse for keyboard controls. Left, right, and up arrow keys now jet your squid around on the screen. I simplified the concept - now it's just stay alive! and you get points for doing so. You get more points the longer you stay alive, and you get bonus points for touching planets with your cute little feet - juts to encourage more dangerous gameplay. :)

So here it is - the simplified Build 19.

• Arrow keys now control the squid. Be sure to click on the flash first to give it focus.
• Lose health by touching things (your feet are safe though)
• Gain style points by moving or touching things with your cute feet

My only issue with the game as-is, is it's fairly easy to put yourself into a geostationary orbit and just tap the up arrow once in a while. I think if I bring back Ink Bottles as a propulsion fuel limit it would make things a bit more fun.