Level 3 Video games Design Workflow (2D Game)

Introduction:

Our original task for this project is to create a 2D (2 Dimensional) side-scroller video game. This workflow shows my understanding of said project and how well this will be done; said project has been, for the moment, called side-scroller shooter.

This workflow shall show, also, how and what I have done in the following and/or upcoming weeks, and what shall be done for the project.

Sprite:

The sprite I have created is, as a result of careful planning and use of ideas taken from other things, such as video games and internet images and drawings. As such, this idea has now been turned into a ship loosely adapted from the Kingdom Hearts™ video game, created by Square Enix™.

This ship, created from the Gummi ship from the aforementioned video game, is also going to glow, becoming that of a neon-type design, though the colours are subdued, making the ship feel bigger than it already is.

It has also been animated to shake and move slightly of its’ own accord- meaning that t moves on its own, but I have to control it to make it move completely as a character. With each animation it changes colours, making it shift slightly as a result of the different area of placement it was in, rather than

keeping it in its original place.

Collision mask:

With the collision mask, I have made sure that the mask is as precise as possible; making sure that the character is then able to move around with the animation and not have to worry about glitches/bugs.

After completing the sprite, what it looked like and the final additions, I then started to work on the collision masking of the sprite. Collision masking is the process of ensuring the sprite collides and interacts with world objects correctly, and so I started this immediately afterwards.

Firstly, I centred the sprite, making sure the pixels of its centring were 16x16 pixels. Then I set the collision vector. After doing that, I made sure the sprite’s ‘precise’ collision mask was set before moving on to the next thing.

Object:

after finishing up the collision settings, I then went to start the objects and their properties for the sprite.

Starting off, I added an object with the sprite’s name and features, making sure the sprite itself was added to the objects list and then I began coding; doing so would then turn it into a useable player object, and make it eligible for game use.

After creating the object, I then began coding it.

Keyboard controls:

After the completion of the object properties editing, I then moved onto the coding and assignment of keys to said code to ensure that the sprite moves in the

directions coded into movement.

each keyboard coding diection has been given a key to ensure the movement of the sprite flows into the intended direction and, as an example, the ‘D’ key moves the sprite in the right direction, while the ‘S’ key moves it left and so on; the key style that is being used for this is going to be the standard ‘WASD’ key interface, ensuring familiarity among the masses.

Considering the way this works, there is to be eight way movement; this basically means that the contorlled character can and will move in any direciton you wish to move it, and you can

press two keys at once to get the deisred effect.

Creating a level:

(There is no image for this).

When creating a sprite, and after creating the coding for the spriteto move freely with control of the player, I then had to create a level for the sprite to be tested and played on.

The level is, as a standard, black, with nothing as a background. This can be rectified later, but for now the colouring shall remain and stay like that. The leveling limits have not been set, and the limits themselves come later on when the design of the level, which shall get more specific as the time goes on, begins.

Level Limits:

After creating the room, I found that my character had no restraints of movement, therefore rednering it unable to restrained within the room level. I decided to code the character, so that it is unable to travel further than the limits of the room, stopping it from leaving the area.

Background:

Once that was done I then moved on to the background, creating it in as little time as possible with as much detail as I could. It didn’t turn out the way I wished for it to, but it was, nevertheless, a brilliant, in my mind, background, and excellently suited this game.

While creating this backgorund, I had the idea of ‘deep space’ in mind, and decided to give my hand a try. Thus, this background came into being, with a dark purple outer colouring with a wicked looking moon and tiny dota around it, indicating

stars. I then created a galaxy-type colouration, and finalised it with a small, North star-type object, finishing the background. I have also made sure that the level scrolls, allowing the scene to constantly move.

Edit: I have removed the moon, and the glazy, leaving it to be simple stars with the occasional bright star.

Particle effects:

Now, I have added particle effects to the ship, which move outwards and disappear when they move over three hundred frames per second away from my ship. This causes them to dissipate, disappearing when out of range. Another thing is that the thrust particle had to become a sprite as a creation, and then turned into an object that got coded, thus creating an effective particle system.

Projectile:

I am to create a projectile that, when shot by the character, will damage/destroy the enemy sprites.

This projectile shall be shot from the barrel of my character, which will be accompanied by a sound. I have written a piece of coding that stops the projecile from leaving the room, by destroying it, rendering it gone after being fired and leaving the area. Once it impacts an enemy it will be destroyed, but will also deal damage to said enemy, therefore destroying it in the process.

The projectile- currently unnamed- has to be centred on the character’sship barrels.

The character successfully shoots the projectile.

Enemy sprite:

my enemy sprite has been created and is now ready for coding. It has been animated and the red dots on the side move in towards each other, beforte hitting each other and disappearing, therefore restarting the entire animation. This just shows that the enemy is ‘alive’ so to speak.

The enemy will also have sound when it dies, and will shoot at the character that the player controls.

Object spawner and movement:

The enemy will be spawned into the game via a spawner, a means to which the enemy enters the game’s domain, and then will allow the enemy to move around on its own, attacking the player as it does so.

To do this, I have set up an object- without an accompanying sprite- claled system, which shall be used for a number of animations, additions and more into the game, therefore making a spawner in the process, and regulating how many enemies come into the level.

Enemy limits:

The enemy now has limits, meaning that after it has left the room it will be destroyed, making it possible for the game to continue without ‘crashing’ due to too much enemies being spawned. This way, the game ahs smoother unning, and the character doesn’t feel overpowered by them.

Enemy death animation:

I have now created an animation for when the enemy comes into contact with the bullet my ship fires, therefore destroying it and rendering it useless. By doing this, I first change the coding so that when the enemy’s collision mask comes into contact with the bullet from my ship, it will be destroyed. This shall also be the case for the death of my ship. Since I have to create an animation, I have to create a sprite for the particls and then turn that into an object. Then I had to code the object to be released upon the death of either my or the enemy ship.

Once the enemy explodes, it creates a sound of an explosion. This was done through careful coding and creating. Also, the enemy now has a

perfect death animation, exploding into an orange/green/pink light, therefore keeping to the neon-esque design.

Enemy attack:

I have created a piece of coding which allows the enemy to shoot at me, therefore making it able to destroy my character ship. As with my character, I had to create a sprite for the enemy’s

bullet/lazer, then I had to turn that into an object, and make it collide with the enemy easily, but in this instance it is colliding with my ship and destroying it.

The lazer that the enemy shoots has also been animated, and is set to a speed of 20, meaning it will move slow, but not too slow.

Character Life bar(Shield):

I have now created a life bar for the character, and ocne it empties to zero, it kills the character and restarts the game. Each bullet takes away twenty percent of the character’s health, until eventual death.

Character death:

The character now explodes once touched by a bullet from the enemy, thus causing it to ‘die’ and restart the game. The player character will not have a shield placement, since I do not like that kind of game, but there will be variables of which ‘heal’ the character, therefore making you last longer in the game.

The animation is the same as the enemy’s death in that it explodes once touched by the bullet.

This will also occur when the health bar is down and there is no more left after taking enough hits from enemy bullets.

Score system:

I, once I finished that task, went on to adding in a score variable; this is a point system, where each killed enemy gives me a point.

In more depth, this alows for the game to have the goal of getting a high score, creating an entertainment for the user other than mindless destroying of the enemy.

After setting up the score, I then had to create a font for the score system to use, therefore making it easier to read- if read at all.

this is the coding for placing the font that I created into the game, which will be near the end of completion by now. Then, after that, I added the scoring to be just underneath the health bar, compacting it underneath it to ensure the player gets maximum visibility while also getting to see their health status and score at the same time.

Second enemy and minor tweaks:

I have created a second enemy type, and also a bullet for it to shoot. This will allow there to be more diversity in the game, alowing for more variation as to the enemies the character shoots.

I have also managed to create a menu for the beginning screen; so, as opposed to the game starting autonomously, it will have to wait for me to press the beginning button before it starts, and I can then choose to exit the game with the other button. With th3ese buttons, I have had to turn them into sprites, then objects, and add them to a room that can later be turned into the menu.

Edit: there is no longer a menu, as I had no time left.