Lawn Mowing Simulator – Retrospective #4 – Mower Collision

Today we’re continuing our series looking back to the original Lawn Mowing Simulator game to talk about the evolution of design from that to LMS2.

Previously we’ve covered Engine Overload, ProView and Ground Check – today we’re looking at Mower Collision and how impact damage affects the player.

As in real life driving your mower takes skill and care – and if you weren’t attentive enough and banged into a wall, rock, shed, building or any other hard obstacle you’d likely pick up some damage. How much damage would depend mainly on the impact speed versus the type of object hit, and this would then require (potentially costly) repairs via the Maintenance feature (which we’ll talk about separately in the future).Obviously, we’re sure nobody here ever encountered this particular feature… of course we didn’t… ever… maybe… But how was the experience, and did it live up to its original intended design? Game Director, Rick Payne is here to explain more!

Q: So it’s fair to expect a suboptimal outcome if you drive your mower into a wall… but what sort of design decisions were part of the original design for the Mower Collision feature?

Rick: Well, as with everything in the game, we try to find a way to simulate the real world environment – but as a game, it can’t really be exactly like real-life. If you drive a real mower into a wall at full speed there’s a decent chance you won’t be cutting any lawns to a high standard any time soon.

But in the game it’s not really going to be a lot of fun if you make a mistake like that, and not only is the contract over, but you’re almost certainly going to need to buy a new mower. So we had to find a balance between real-world expectations and fun gameplay.

We wanted to provide enough incentive for players to want to approach the game with care and attention, but provide a penalty that could scale with the severity of the crash – but not represent a game-over situation.

Q: And that penalty came in two forms – it would reduce the overall condition of your mower and also dock you some of the financial reward for completing the contract. How well do you think those ideas worked in the end?

Rick: When I first designed the collision and fines system it was quite strict as I was focusing a lot on the idea of ‘simulation.’ But as development proceeded and we got more people playing, we toned down the fine and damage amounts a number of times to remove a level of frustration.

In situations like this it is easy for a game designer to fall into a trap where they start balancing a system or gameplay feature for their skill and knowledge level… which is obviously not the same as a player when they first start a game.

Q: Indeed – and looking ahead to LMS2, the challenges of wanting to reflect real-life still exist of course – so do you expect to keep the Mower Collision similar to the original game? Or are you looking at any changes as we get deeper into development?

Rick: Mower collisions and damage will absolutely be a thing in LMS2. But we want to make a game that can be enjoyed by a broad range of players. From the hardcore sim fans that want to really do everything perfectly, to the player that just wants to relax and cut some grass.

With this in mind we are developing a system where the player can choose the level of simulation they want to play each contract. We are still working on the ins and outs of this system, but I expect it to act in a similar way to a racing game (in which you might turn on or off driving aids to make the game more or less challenging depending on preference, skill level or mood at the time).

Thanks Rick – sounds very interesting! We’ll have plenty more of these features in the coming months, but If there’s something from the original game you’d like us to talk about, let us know!

This is a taste of the kind of content you’ll find in the Skyhook Games Discord… Be sure to join for all the LMS1 Retrospectives as well as all the latest on Lawn Mowing Simulator 2. Click here to join!