With this week comes the end of my work on this project. This week I gave the game to various play testers to see their reactions and thoughts on the game whilst I worked on the final art work.
Whilst the game was being tested, I took every temporary asset in the game and replaced them will full graphics that fit the visual design I laid out for myself in my concept sketches. The ship and enemy's all have shading and animated parts to make them feel less static and a their are a variety of animations to ensure that the graphics do not feel flat and interactive.
From the testing, I received a number of points that I have managed to fix such as the missile explosions being to small to warrant use of the powerup or the invincibility frames taking too long and forcing the player into disadvantageous positions. Using these, I have managed to tune my game up much stronger than it would be without testing. There are still a few wayward bugs that I hope to crush before final release, but I do believe the game is about as ready as It needs to be.
I am quite happy with the progress and I believe the game meet its needs quite well.
Thank you for reading
Thursday, 31 May 2012
Games design - Ninth entry
This week I have finally finished the various coding jobs that I needed to complete before working on the art assets and finishing my game. This week I have worked on the final enemy type, the implementation of a boss, menu screens and a game over screen. I also implemented a lives system and made a few extra animations to show the player flying away from the game once the boss has been defeated.
The first thing I worked on was a new enemy type that spawns towards the end of the game. This enemy is very similar to the basic shooter that I made last week, however the bullets this one fires head towards the player instead of just statically flying in one direction. This forces the player to move a great deal more and adds to the challenge.
I also created a boss that will fly in very slowly in a similar way to how the player fly's back in when they die. The boss will take 60 hits to kill and missiles will count for three hits. I also wanted to make it so that the boss had an attack pattern so I made the boss consistently move up and down whilst firing cannons above and below the player, forcing the player to match his movement or be destroyed. Upon the destruction of this boss, the player fly's off and the game skips to the victory screen that has a replay button place onto it.
I also created a start game menu that allows the player time to prepare before the game begins to play. If the player runs out of lives, the game over screen will contain a button to take him back to the menu screen.
Next week, I will be producing the final graphics for the game and testing it to ensure no bugs remain and the game is officially finalised.
The first thing I worked on was a new enemy type that spawns towards the end of the game. This enemy is very similar to the basic shooter that I made last week, however the bullets this one fires head towards the player instead of just statically flying in one direction. This forces the player to move a great deal more and adds to the challenge.
I also created a boss that will fly in very slowly in a similar way to how the player fly's back in when they die. The boss will take 60 hits to kill and missiles will count for three hits. I also wanted to make it so that the boss had an attack pattern so I made the boss consistently move up and down whilst firing cannons above and below the player, forcing the player to match his movement or be destroyed. Upon the destruction of this boss, the player fly's off and the game skips to the victory screen that has a replay button place onto it.
I also created a start game menu that allows the player time to prepare before the game begins to play. If the player runs out of lives, the game over screen will contain a button to take him back to the menu screen.
Next week, I will be producing the final graphics for the game and testing it to ensure no bugs remain and the game is officially finalised.
Games design - Eighth entry
This week, I focused on a variety of different coding elements to help bring my game closer and closer to being finished. I focused on adding a new enemy and coding in the various upgrades and visual differences that they will bring. This involved making a system that allows the player controlled sprite to be deleted and replaced with one very similar without the player noticing.
The first and most important thing I created for this week was the replacement system that allows for sprite and animations transitions without the player noticing. This allows me to replace the player sprite with an upgrade animation when an animation is picked up and then that animation with the final upgraded sprite. This also allows me to replace the player sprite with an explosion when he loses a life and then place a flying back in animation at a pre-determind location. This allowed me to create a variety of upgrades for the player and have a pickup replace the player sprite with an animation of the upgrade upgrading, and then that with the final upgraded sprite with its new attributes. With this system, I created three different upgrades that will drop randomly from various enemy's depending on how hard they are to kill.
I also created a new enemy that fly's towards the players side of the screen slower than the pattern flyer but shoots a bullet every 2-4 seconds and takes two hits to kill (One if its the missile). This enemy will be placed less sparsely than the pattern flyer but it will be done in locations that force the player to move in the way of the pattern flyer's, increasing the challenge.
For next weeks work, I want to implement the final enemy type, a boss and some menus, which should finish off the programming aspects of my game.
The first and most important thing I created for this week was the replacement system that allows for sprite and animations transitions without the player noticing. This allows me to replace the player sprite with an upgrade animation when an animation is picked up and then that animation with the final upgraded sprite. This also allows me to replace the player sprite with an explosion when he loses a life and then place a flying back in animation at a pre-determind location. This allowed me to create a variety of upgrades for the player and have a pickup replace the player sprite with an animation of the upgrade upgrading, and then that with the final upgraded sprite with its new attributes. With this system, I created three different upgrades that will drop randomly from various enemy's depending on how hard they are to kill.
I also created a new enemy that fly's towards the players side of the screen slower than the pattern flyer but shoots a bullet every 2-4 seconds and takes two hits to kill (One if its the missile). This enemy will be placed less sparsely than the pattern flyer but it will be done in locations that force the player to move in the way of the pattern flyer's, increasing the challenge.
For next weeks work, I want to implement the final enemy type, a boss and some menus, which should finish off the programming aspects of my game.
Games design - Seventh entry
This week, I created the first enemy to be used in my game and also worked on a collision system for the enemy's, player and his bullets.
The first thing I worked on was the basic enemy that will be created via a wave system that I will implement at a later date. This enemy fly towards the players screen whilst moving upwards and downwards whilst never travelling off of screen up or down ways. Depending on whether or not this enemy is higher or lower than the middle of the screen upon creation will determine the initial direction of movement on the Y plane. Also upon creation, this enemy spawns four more of itself behind it that all have the same attributes that it does bar a few seconds later so they do not move at precisely the same time.
I also programmed in a basic collision system that replaces enemy sprites with an explosion animation when they collide with a bullet.Once said explosion animation has finished playing the explosion will disappear.
Next week I will be working on the second kind of enemy and the upgrade system for my game.
Thank you for reading
The first thing I worked on was the basic enemy that will be created via a wave system that I will implement at a later date. This enemy fly towards the players screen whilst moving upwards and downwards whilst never travelling off of screen up or down ways. Depending on whether or not this enemy is higher or lower than the middle of the screen upon creation will determine the initial direction of movement on the Y plane. Also upon creation, this enemy spawns four more of itself behind it that all have the same attributes that it does bar a few seconds later so they do not move at precisely the same time.
I also programmed in a basic collision system that replaces enemy sprites with an explosion animation when they collide with a bullet.Once said explosion animation has finished playing the explosion will disappear.
Next week I will be working on the second kind of enemy and the upgrade system for my game.
Thank you for reading
Games design - Sixth entry
This week I began development of my flash game. Using very basic shapes with writing on top of them to serve as placeholders, I began coding in various key game aspects such as navigation systems and weapons systems. Now, after a weeks worth of work, I have programmed in a full movement system that allows the player to move around the screen using the arrow keys but is stopped the moment they approach the sides of the screen.
I also worked on making a basic weapons system to pave the way for a more advanced system later on. The first thing that I developed for this was creating a bullet that, on creation, fly's to the right side of the screen at a stable speed. I then made it so that the player ship spawns one of these when the SPACE BAR key is held down. I also added in a delay so the bullets to not come out in a direct stream.
Next week I need to create a type of enemy that fly's towards the players screen and is destroyed on collision with a bullet, the player or if it fly's off of screen.
As always, thanks for reading.
I also worked on making a basic weapons system to pave the way for a more advanced system later on. The first thing that I developed for this was creating a bullet that, on creation, fly's to the right side of the screen at a stable speed. I then made it so that the player ship spawns one of these when the SPACE BAR key is held down. I also added in a delay so the bullets to not come out in a direct stream.
Next week I need to create a type of enemy that fly's towards the players screen and is destroyed on collision with a bullet, the player or if it fly's off of screen.
As always, thanks for reading.
Games design - Fifth entry
Having splintered off into our own separate projects, I have now begun designing and producing my own game.This week I worked on the design for my game both visually and conceptually. I first wrote up a vareity of important aspects about my game such as :
Thanks for reading
- Visual style
- Game play elements
- Game play structure
Thanks for reading
Games design - Fourth entry
This week, things have changed quite considerably both in management and team direction. Due to poor management and inconsistent team work, the team has had to splinter into individual members producing their own games. This is because the game we are currently working on is taking far too long and the management for the team has gotten to the point where even if the goals were reasonable we would be unable to make our final goals.
This means that I am going to have to work separately from the team to create my own game. I will first need to work on creating a strong design to work to, both visually and in a document to help structure my production. I will then program the game using rudimentary graphics and finally produce the artists assets and sounds for the game.
I hope to have the designs finished by the end of next week. Thanks for reading
This means that I am going to have to work separately from the team to create my own game. I will first need to work on creating a strong design to work to, both visually and in a document to help structure my production. I will then program the game using rudimentary graphics and finally produce the artists assets and sounds for the game.
I hope to have the designs finished by the end of next week. Thanks for reading
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