The Game Design of AGAR.io
When the Agar.Io came out in 2015, and it is quickly taking the gaming world by storm with its simple controls and the concept that is easy for anyone to understand. The VentureBeat recently talked about the surprising momentum it garnered at the time when browser game is seemed nearly obsolete. The Forbes has spoken of the narcotic addiction of the rival competitor, Slither.Io. Of course, the addicting qualities all the possesses are all down to the game design and of course it is great fun too.
In this article, we are going to get on your design hats, investigating the some of the design choices in Agar.in and see what makes them so useful.
The main game of mechanic in Agar.Io which is that of a food chain. You can play as the cell in a petri dish, and you can move around eating the smaller cells than you. Eating which makes you bigger, larger the meal, the more you grow. You can also eat the other moving cells in the petri dish are other players.
The Food Chain
Ø Scavenge and Survive = In the beginning, you are a vulnerable little Chicken, which is surrounded by the larger enemies. You need to eat smaller cells on the ground and avoid the every other player. The Gameplay is all about dodging, escaping and surviving.
Ø Eat your Enemies = Once you have grown the bit, you are now big enough to eat some other players. The dynamic shifts the little. You are still prey, but also the small time hunter. The Gameplay adds the casing; then you make decisions about who to chase and who to avoid.
Ø Get Big = If you are continuing to hunt and survive, you will get big. But the bigger you can get, the more tempting a target you become to another player.
Divide and Conquer
After the food chain the other big mechanic by which you can divide your cells into smaller pieces. They move faster and merge into the one cell again after the while
Ø You can use the split as the attack to eat the other player. The bigger you are, then the slower you move, so dividing the easiest way is to eat the smaller players who are too fast to catch
Ø You can use the gap as your defense to speed you up. As your cells are the smallest, they move faster. You can sometimes use it to speed away from the bigger threat.
Ø By dividing comes with risk. When divided you are the split into the smaller cells, which means that the more players can eat you. It means you share the balance of the game shits. You might have been one of the biggest cells, but when you divide it, you are temporarily vulnerable to the other players who can eat some, or all of your newly isolated cells.
Dividing brings the both strategy and balance to Agar.io
Ø It will force the big players to split their cells to attack and give them a smaller player a chance to catch up.
Ø It will create, the more risk and reward as the player will rush to assimilate the one big player's split the cells before they re-emerge.
Ø It will create a way for the players to sacrifice power for mobility and allowing them a chance to escape but at the cost.
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