Hamster Simulator Top Search Result on Bing!

A few days ago, I was checking my analytics and saw that Hamster Simulator was getting more views all of the sudden. Curious as to who was playing my old Ludum Dare game, I checked and saw they were coming from bing.com. And when I typed Hamster Simulator into bing, I couldn’t believe it. My game is the top search result on bing and DuckDuckGo ! 

Naturally, I thought I should give the game an update to commemorate this occasion. These are the small things that I did to improve the game a lot - most of these things you can apply to your own projects and make them feel better to play instantly! 

First, I used Adobe color and got a nicer color scheme for the UI elements. Before I was using primary colors and the default unity blue background (🤮), and while it’s not a huge difference, I definitely think it looks better. 

Second, I received feedback in the jam about how it can be difficult to open the upgrade menu while playing and it covers up the hamster running. So, I added hotkeys so you can upgrade your skills without ever having to stop looking at your hamster go ! This shows the importance of playtesting, not just with by yourself but having other players playtest your game so you can learn what features can be improved. 

Finally, I added some visual feedback with particle effects. I didn’t spend too much time on them, but I think even just how they are makes a difference. Now, it feels much more rewarding when you level up, and I added a particle effect that triggers when you press a hotkey, so you know that your upgrade was registered. 

Good luck leveling up your hamsters ! :D