Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length

 
Advanced search

1411276 Posts in 69323 Topics- by 58380 Members - Latest Member: bob1029

March 28, 2024, 11:24:40 AM

Need hosting? Check out Digital Ocean
(more details in this thread)
TIGSource ForumsCommunityDevLogsMoonWalk: A 2D Radial Platformer
Pages: [1]
Print
Author Topic: MoonWalk: A 2D Radial Platformer  (Read 2344 times)
Theotherguy
Level 1
*



View Profile
« on: December 28, 2009, 06:36:56 PM »

Starting up my project for next semester: MoonWalk. Still in the prototyping stages right now, but its going along smoothly.

The idea is that it will be a 2D radial platformer (ie, you have to jump around circular planets) where you play as a little space man who has to gather fuel for his rocket ship to take him home. Since I am incapable of making a non-violent game, the space man will have a laser gun.

Much of the level design will involve radial jumping puzzles in which you must exploit orbital mechanics to get from planet to planet.

The game will be coded in XNA, and will use an updated version of BeeStruction's component-based engine.

Here is a screenshot from the game so far, just working out all of the systems I will need to begin serious development:


I've gotten a lot of important stuff done in the past couple of weeks, from static and dynamic orbital mechanics to basic collection systems, to smooth camera translations and rotations. I'll try to keep this thread up to date as development commences.
« Last Edit: December 28, 2009, 07:21:31 PM by Theotherguy » Logged

Stegersaurus
Level 2
**


Crazy robots...


View Profile WWW
« Reply #1 on: December 28, 2009, 07:16:58 PM »

You've probably seen the game already, but if you haven't you might be inclined to check out Warheads (or WarheadsSE as it's called now). It's not quite what you're making (not a platformer, more scorched-earth like) but it may give you ideas on how to treat weapons' sensitivity to planetary gravities, or ideas for weapons that work well in this kind of environment.

I don't know how tricky the shots you are going to be making are, but you may consider "gravity assisted" shooting if you're feeling devious in putting your own hand in influencing the player's actions. What I mean by this is tweaking the gravity's influence on a bullet based on the angle and speed that a shot is moving at relative to the nearest planetary body's normal surface, so that the pull of gravity could change to make bullets more likely to stay in orbit longer around planets with enemies you need to kill. In other words, a subtle aim-assist for orbiting bullets, ideally that players won't notice and will just make them think they have awesome aiming skills for compensating for gravity. Smiley
Logged

http://www.stegersaurus.com - Yet another blog about games
Mega Monster Mania - Procedural, fast paced dungeon running
Theotherguy
Level 1
*



View Profile
« Reply #2 on: December 30, 2009, 03:05:25 PM »

Made some massive improvements to the original BeeStruction Editor (which only allowed entity loading and map saving), allowing the user to drag around entities, drag entities into place, rotate, and delete entities.



Soon, I will add the ability to edit entity and map XML data in place and save it.

Also started to develop standardized PID controls, and improved the way the camera works.
Logged

Theotherguy
Level 1
*



View Profile
« Reply #3 on: January 06, 2010, 04:55:28 PM »

Update: In preparation for next semester, wrote a 29-page technical document detailing the workings of the engine.

http://www.matthewklingensmith.com/MoonwalkTechnicalDocument.pdf


I also developed some simple helper components for finite state machines, timers, and weapon controllers.


I also made this mockup for the designers:
« Last Edit: January 06, 2010, 05:01:30 PM by Theotherguy » Logged

Theotherguy
Level 1
*



View Profile
« Reply #4 on: January 07, 2010, 05:18:10 PM »

Made a simple word-wrapping text box thingy today which slowly builds up the text a character at a time to emulate what can be seen in the mockup.

Logged

Theotherguy
Level 1
*



View Profile
« Reply #5 on: February 10, 2010, 01:38:00 PM »

We had our first couple of meetings.

We decided that shooting would distract from the core mechanic of the game, and if you shoot something, it will be a level feature and not a core component.

The game play will revolve around collecting ship parts or fuel. Once you have the parts needed, you can go back to your ship, and fly to the next planetary system.

Level mechanics will feature objects that repel or attract you, planets that hurt you if you touch them, aliens, bosses, etc. There will be one level where you have to pick up a very large ship part and physically drag it back to the ship. Each level will have its own unique set of enemies, and the last level will feature challenges from previous levels.

Some enemy ideas include aliens that leap at you, but can be tricked into leaping into orbit or leaping at escape velocity, aliens that charge at you at high speeds, and if you jump over them, they will reach escape velocity and fly into space, aliens that orbit planets and shoot you from above, etc.

At the first work session we got the basics down for controlling the behavior of levels, including transfers between them. We also made it possible to have platforms which are static relative to a moving object (for platforms on orbiting moons, for instance.)Finally, we implemented "jump pads" which push you away from a planet. These can be hazards (because they can shoot you off into space), or they can be used for more challenging platforming.
Logged

Pages: [1]
Print
Jump to:  

Theme orange-lt created by panic