Giving Players a Goal

As my game is beginning to take shape, it is becoming clear that my game is in desperate need of a purpose. The time has come for me to implement a goal for the player. I chose to do this in the form of a score.

When adding in a score I wanted to make it a challenge for the player to get points. I chose to have the points spawn in the form of a glowing orb. The pulsing glow of the orb will entice the players to grab them. The way the orbs are spawned into the scene is through enemy deaths. For each alien killed, there is a chance of it dropping points! But the player must collect the orb to successfully get the points. This can sometimes involve sprinting through clusters of enemies or dodging them in order to grab the points. Another point to mention is that the orbs will disappear after a short time forcing the player into a race against the clock...

While testing the mechanic, I found that this worked well in terms of adding a risk factor. But I still wanted to add more incentive for the player risking their life. Therefor I doubled up the purpose of the points by using them as a way to upgrade the weapon.

I am happy with how the points system merged well with the gameplay, but the weapon upgrade system will need some tweaking to balance out the gameplay between that and the wave progression of the game.