Clever tutorials, tutorials are an essential part of every good game. Often in games such as monster hunter people will talk about how much they dread the endless tutorial length. But I never hear people talk about how much they “enjoyed” a tutorial. In some games it feels like there isn’t one at all, but in reality the developer(s) had to think long and hard on where to place valuable set-pieces that teach you how to play the game without giving you that feeling of having to learn the mechanics. It makes you feel like a true badass immediately after you start playing!
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Sound Design. I’m talking the little sound effects that you hear every 5 seconds playing a game. It’s easy to just go to a free sound effects database and take whatever sound works but I think it’s important to take time to pick out sounds that maximize the satisfaction of attacking an enemy or making a jump. Sound effects also help to subtly teach the player what’s a positive outcome and what’s not. They can be very iconic as well. Everyone knows the growing sound effect from Super Mario Bros. and Sonic’s jumping sound effect. It’s something that can be done so quick but can do so much.
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Ah, I didn’t think of that! Exactly the reason the question was made, I’m totally behind this answer.
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Rhythm. Every game with rhythm is dope as hell. Guaranteed.
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UX (user experience)
A lot of developers publish their game thinking it’s going to a great and fairly easy game. Little do they know that it’s easy for them because they’ve tested it themselves so many times, and developed the game. User experience is always an amazing aspect to look at and a good way to improve on it is to allow others to play test your game.
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similar to @Ramshackle 's post, I think that opening levels in general aren’t given enough attention.
DOOM and hollow knight have really good openings, but those are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head that aren’t boring.
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Oh, hell yes. Every damn time I make a game and flesh it out and do alll the fancy doodads to get it polished, it turns out my brothers suck at playing the game 
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Those are probably my games’ biggest faults.
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Then use what I said and apply it to your games.
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ok
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It’s good to be creative, but never lose sight of your original concepts and goals! Getting creative with mechanics is always great, but avoid adding too many individual mechanics, instead try to build on one core piece of your intentional game design and really make it shine, let it do all sorts of things. Who knows what players will do with such a versatile tool at their disposal, maybe they’ll find some cool trick you never expected! Introducing too many unique things with few uses for each one can quickly become overwhelming as players try to remember so many things. What’s even worse is that many of those become forgotten and go to waste as the players wonder just what happened to that cool trick they could do with that sword.
In the end, it’s as simple as taking that little idea that makes your game special and really giving it the attention it deserves. Your game is your child, don’t forget it!
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Imagine writing essays as long as @MetaNinja
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What can I say? I’m a sucker for well-loved game mechanics
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NEW SOL SCREENSHOTS!
Before we get started, thank you all for the several replies! I took a look at all of them, and I thoroughly agree will you all. Hopefully that will help you all as much as it helped me, very useful!
As for some SOL screenshots…
SOL is in pre-alpha build phase - not final product
Imaging is a bit blurry due to the screenshot software I used (sorry about that 
), but this should help with some output to you guys. Also, some things are meant to be blurry - when foreground objects are fully lit, you’ll see a blur effect on them to help amplify the foreground effect.
I would also like to thank the creative foreground designer, @glowbug , for developing and detailing the foreground sprites. They look amazing!
Also still continuing script development and some world concepting (Kilroy was here), of which I am very excited to start working further in, especially of what the story of SOL represents in the land of Allegory. Plan to find a… Cipher, of a story. Not explicitly drawn out, but you’ll find many, many clues about the… Tragic story that had unfolded those many years ago. To whom you trust if you’re your own enemy? Looking soulless in the mirror, a pale imitation, lost soul at sea. Lost soul at sea. Harmony.
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Don’t worry guys, still working on this project. Just hard getting time to work on something like this these days. I’ve been mapping out development plans though, so hopefully (on my days off) I’ll get more stuff done productively.
In other news, updated the speed attack. It feels more useful now, and can now have new effects added that I want to try out. Stay tuned!
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ONE YEAR SOL DEVELOPMENT ANNIVERSARY!!!
Back in the day, SOL was cancelled - hence being why there’s “Cancelled Version” of the game. But back in April, I made a prototype. And this prototype was called Project Progus. Fluid movement testing and heavily polished mechanics in Flowlab. Back then, this was an experiment. Wasn’t sure what to do with it back then. Originally, I was wanting to make an 2D pseudo-MMO type game. Today, that game became what is now known today as SOL - Pre-Alpha 0.1.
This is the original thread that would eventually lead up to what SOL is now today: Project Progus Thread
A lot has changed since then. Another project in development at the time was called Project Mega Shooter. Both Progus and Mega Shooter are what helped me achieve the game systems I have today, and what helped re-inspire me.
It’s been a long journey, but we’re still going. 10/10/21, today last year, SOL was fully decided to be reborn.
Happy 1st Anniversary of SOL Development!!!
And stay tuned…
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Can’t believe it’s been that long! Looking forward to what this next year brings 
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That means that it’s robo boi birthday time
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Thank you all, guys! I, Munche and SOL really appreciate the birthday wishes!
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