That's pretty much been my direction so far for the reasons you mentioned. It's only by doing some work on it that I started to feel it's not exactly quicker to make like I'd hoped.
I think the main issue is the balancing. If you can go anywhere first, then which should have the lowest-level opponents? All of them? None? Would they scale with the player's level? That's a whole challenge to design in itself.
Personally I don't even like this kind of free choice about progression; I don't remember any games where I've enjoyed it. The latest Pokemon and Zelda games both used it, and I ended up overpowered a lot of the time which took the challenge out of much of the game.
I also made the first of the six dungeon areas and it just felt kind of... pointless? Just battle after battle without much motivation behind any of them. I feel like battles work as obstacles to be overcome in the journey to reach a goal, but the goal here was maybe too vague.
Could just be anhedonia from depression, though; maybe I'd feel differently about it all in a better state of mind.
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Astreon152~10M
There might be no need to make all hubs accessible from the start.
I was under the assumption that the player would unlock a new hub each time they finished one. At most, there'd be freedom in that they could chose which hub to unlock. That would also make it easier plot wise: if you decide on the order, you'll have to find a justification for it, and build a story line, etc.
As far as motivation goes, the gameplay itself can be one. When playing tetris, there might be some stage design/music, but there is not plot in itself, the fun is in the game mechanics. Same thing for lemmings, tower defense, or any platformer.
You could make a plot, but i think you just need to make a basic goal, like "i hate dissensions, so i'll convert everyone to my beliefs and they'll stop fighting".
Or right a pseudo scenario, like, "the king has seven children, the one who'll rally the others to their cause will inherit the throne". And the player is one of those children.
No need to make it overly complicated, and the game will be short enough that by the time it feels repetitive, the player has finished it.
I think the main issue is the balancing. If you can go anywhere first, then which should have the lowest-level opponents? All of them? None? Would they scale with the player's level? That's a whole challenge to design in itself.
Personally I don't even like this kind of free choice about progression; I don't remember any games where I've enjoyed it. The latest Pokemon and Zelda games both used it, and I ended up overpowered a lot of the time which took the challenge out of much of the game.
I also made the first of the six dungeon areas and it just felt kind of... pointless? Just battle after battle without much motivation behind any of them. I feel like battles work as obstacles to be overcome in the journey to reach a goal, but the goal here was maybe too vague.
Could just be anhedonia from depression, though; maybe I'd feel differently about it all in a better state of mind.
I was under the assumption that the player would unlock a new hub each time they finished one. At most, there'd be freedom in that they could chose which hub to unlock. That would also make it easier plot wise: if you decide on the order, you'll have to find a justification for it, and build a story line, etc.
As far as motivation goes, the gameplay itself can be one. When playing tetris, there might be some stage design/music, but there is not plot in itself, the fun is in the game mechanics. Same thing for lemmings, tower defense, or any platformer.
You could make a plot, but i think you just need to make a basic goal, like "i hate dissensions, so i'll convert everyone to my beliefs and they'll stop fighting".
Or right a pseudo scenario, like, "the king has seven children, the one who'll rally the others to their cause will inherit the throne". And the player is one of those children.
No need to make it overly complicated, and the game will be short enough that by the time it feels repetitive, the player has finished it.