The Last Order Post Mortem

The Last Order originally was intended to be a simple "Hold that button for as long as you can" game that is made for the Sept Challenge - Link here. It was also meant to be a test of patience for the player(s) that is(are) playing the game. The game was intended to be played by people of all ages so it was conceptualized to be simple, intuitive as well as challenging at the same time.

To set it apart from the competition, I was thinking that maybe that kind of 'never ending' game was just plain and it could be played without challenge if the players got a hang of it. Therefore, I decided to use the concept of 'multitasking' to make the game more challenging. The features that I wanted to test out with this game is 'multiplayerability' and 'socialability'. I wanted to test this game in a way that this game can be played with a lot of players on one single computer instead of networking with other computers for its multiplayer part and for the socialability part, I was thinking that if people all cramped up in one area, they might just talk with one another while playing and this might make them socialize with people that they do not know and make friends with them.

When making this game, I used the engine that I knew the most which is Game Maker 8.0. I somewhat have some experience with using it even though I'm just a budding game designer and game maker.

Goals that went right:

1. The basic gameplay system: Holding the button and not letting it go for as long as the player can. This part went off smoothly.
   
2. Up to 3-4 keys can be pressed simultaneously during the game - letting up to 4 players play at the same time.
   
3. Ideas coming in... to improve on the gameplay so as not to make it boring.

Goals that didn't went right:

1. I wanted the game to be played by 10 people at a time but it can't be done with the rig that I'm using right now because my keyboard can only register button presses below 4. Else, it's not possible.
   
2. I wanted to do everything by myself like the design, sounds etc but for the sounds, I couldn't make a soundtrack that is suitable for it. Therefore, I decided to use some googled soundtracks that fits the nearest. I actually wanted the soundtrack to sound more godly but then...

What the game should be (Explanation and Spoilers) like: SPOILERS!!!

I was brainstorming my ideas for the theme "Neverending" and I remembered the "Hold the car for as long as possible game to win that car" Game that is shown on the news some time back. So, I decided to use that concept as a gameplay in this game. I thought, "If people could hold on something for so long, then they could hold on to it forever if they want". So I made use of that thought as a basis of my never ending game whereby players (could) 'neverendingly' hold on to something.

So, I thought up of a story to complement my game in which the player is a human who is about to die and they have to hold on to their lives because as humans, we naturally don't want to die. The player is then instructed by God to do things while holding on to his life. For the part whereby the player has to kill the birds, the explanation is this: The black birds signify human's wrong doings (as depicted by the black colour). So by killing those black birds, it shows that their wrong doings are 'killed' and they are forgiven by God. The other things like "Follow this, click this" are actually testing the players to follow and obey God's Orders (instructions) as hinted by the game's name "The Last Order". The game was named "The Last Order" because, near the end of time (the player's lives), when they are about to die, all they can do is to hold on their lives before dying and as humans, we all want to leave this world without our sins so that we don't get our retributions in our afterlife. So,, the last thing that they want to do is to follow God's order and do what it takes for them to get eternal bliss then.....

*PS: I'm a believer of God so I made this game as it is. No offence to people/players who do not believe in God etc...