I have some ideas for Game Design posts like this one. Depending on how many likes and comments this one gets, I’ll make more. This one is a test!

There was a backtracking problem on Mana Spark.
This happened when you had explored an area on the game to find a lever, and then to reach the exit you had to go all the way back to where you were before, in a long boring walk.

Other games that also have this problem usually solve it by allowing the player to teleport somehow, like on Enter the Gungeon or Dead Cells.

But it seemed to be a cheap trick to me.
I didn’t want to introduce random teleports on Mana Spark.

So this is the solution I came with:

A new Mini Map.

Yeah, that’s the solution.
Before our mini map looked like this:

The rooms of the floor were only revealed once you’d visited them. Everything was hidden. Why? I didn’t had an answer. Because everybody does it like that?

The player had no idea where the rooms were, so he couldn’t plan a good route. That’s what was causing backtracking at first!

So here’s how the new mini map look like:

The floor layout is completely at hand right when you get to it.
You see where the exit is, and can decide where you want to explore first. That way you can make a smarter exploration.

Also now there’re icons that show if there’s still something left in the room. Like a lever or meat. This was a feature requested by some people from the community.

That’s it for now.
Again, if you liked, leave a comment so I know it’s worth to do this kind of more elaborated post.

Let’s build this together!
-Ed
BEHEMUTT