Lights Off!

Using Arrow Keys and SPACE

Lights Off! is a dynamic challenge game with endless run-time, no win-condition, and one losecondition. The player controls a ghost innkeeper who is trying to protect his inn from financial ruin. By switching off lightbulbs that turn on automatically, the player aims to keep monthly electricity expenses below 800€. 

Positive feedback from players was given regarding the art style, which is minimalistic as well as colorful. The interface is clearly visible against the gradient background and the screen did not appear too crowded to the players. Additionally, the term “intuitive” was mentioned with regards to the game’s main mechanic, because it is anchored in a real-life scenario, and switching off lightbulbs does not require much context or explanation. 

An interesting emergent behaviour of players appeared in relation to the bulb-breaking mechanic. Because all bulbs have a life span of 5 on-and-off cycles, replacing multiple bulbs at once proved to be a bad tactic, as it would cause a large wave of broken bulbs. Another tactic that players mentioned was to purposefully raise the monthly expense to win a timer bulb, which adds to the final score, contrary to the easily attainable LED bulbs.

 Critique of the game targeted difficulty adjustments: Because the time it takes for a bulb to turn on is randomized, players found that the rate at which the game’s difficulty increased differed quite significantly every round. A more adaptive randomisation system, which for example makes bulbs turn on faster when there are fewer rooms and slightly slower when there are many rooms, could have possibly circumvented this problem. 

Another point of critique was that the players could not see their scores before reaching the end screen of the game, meaning that they could not effectively make decisions during the rounds. Since the user interface already occupied all of the six points surrounding the game’s playable space. There was no place to display the score. This should have been considered and prioritised before designing the interface. 

Furthermore, one player mentioned that the tutorial over-complicated the game and made it appear intimidating. In order to simplify the tutorial, more play-testing could be done to find out which parts of the game do not need as much explanation as others and which tutorial slides can be omitted.

 Lastly, it was mentioned that the controls were difficult for some players, and a control-toggle feature was suggested. This would enable players to choose in the menu to use the number keys instead of Q and Y to substitute bulbs. Due to a lack of time, this feature was not included, but could be considered as an extension and a way to make the game more enjoyable for all players.