Game Mechanics Let the player know he/she has picked up a powerup

[Bokkie2988]

Hi,

How would you let a player know he/she has picked up a powerup?
Leave your ideas in the reactions!

Thanks,

-Bokkie

 

[TinyGamesLab]

Obviously it will depend on the game style, but I like the following:

• Particles (make the player emmit some particles to let it know something changed or have the GUI emmit the particles)
• Screen shake
• Time slowdown
• Sprite flash (it works, but be careful if you are alread using it for damage or something else)
• Any combination of the above methods

I'm currently writing a tutorial on this topic of letting the player know something changed! If additional interesting ideas pop-up I could add them to the tutorial!
Rgds

 

[coryru]

Sound effects go along way as well.

 

[Toque]

Player flashes.
Increase character in size.
Audio reward.
Change the character look.

 

[Menik]

You could also keep a running icon/identifier as part of the HUD that shows the player is currently in a certain mode, depending on the power-up. Like if the player picks up fire-based powers, a little fire icon can appear beside/under the health.

Maybe even a designated spot that holds that icon so the player knows when or not they have the power-up(if you want to stray from changing appearance).

Otherwise changing the appearance/adding an effect to the player instance is probably the best way to communicate a power-up.