Platformer Video Game
Time: Around a month
I recently took a class in Java/C++ object oriented design and I was really excited because one of our main projects was to design a platform game! Of course I volunteered to make all of our sprites and everything :D - This was super fun! There was so much more that I wanted to do with it, but I am still pretty happy with everything and I have learned a lot. I definitely would have done a lot of things differently, and I wish I would have had more time to make the game more unique and have more of a cohesive design, but now I have a better idea of how to go about things next time ;)
Also I wanted to mention that I made most of the sound effects too which was super fun and totally outside of my spectrum of abilities. But the thing that made the game THE BEST was of course the music! Because of how the code was made I needed a MIDI file and couldn't figure out how to make one, so my super awesome beast brother composed a short looping file for me (check out his music website or his soundcloud)! He's the BEST! The music he made for my game sounds totally outer space jazz lounge and I really wanted to redo the background to make it more lounge-y and create different items that could be placed into the game, but alas the time of a college student is limited so I will have to leave all these ideas for the next game [which will be a lot more professional and actually have a plot and everything - the main point of this project was basically just to get all of the proper functionality]
Concept:
Our original concept was going to be the sort of game where everything seems cute and happy and then suddenly shifts to being evil. We wanted our protagonist to be a normal looking person who for whatever reason ended up in this situation.
Background:
Since the platformer game scrolls across the screen, I wanted the background to start super happy/light/harmless, but at the end I wanted the level to look like absolute chaos/terror/destruction. I ended up making a much more simplified version of my concept with just a simple rainbow for the first half of the level and then a scary volcano at the end.
TNT and Gas Blocks:
The TNT blocks subtract 20 health and the gas blocks keep the character from shooting for a set amount of time. The regular blocks came with the sample skeleton code we were modifying from here so I had a lot of fun using that basic design to create the TNT and gas blocks. For some reason the RED block with TNT written across it was not obviously enough a bomb because out of the two of my friends who I had play my game, both of them would purposefully hit the block thinking it gave them points or something. Oh well...
Main character design:
We wanted the main character to be a bit unobtrusive. I will probably make another quick post specifically about his design once I get my other computer back and running because I had some fun concepts for him and his full sized artwork had a lot more to it than the little sprite we ended up using. I really wanted him to have big boots, and I love it.
Happy Creature Design:
This is what the main enemy creature looks like, bouncing up and down before he sees the main protagonist, gets angry, and begins his attack.
Angry Creature Design:
This is the main enemy creature in his attack mode. I wanted him to look a bit psycho. I loved the slight sketchiness to his style as opposed to the 'cleanness' of his cute version.
Dying Creature Design:
This is the short animation that plays after the angry creature has died. All I did was distort and darken the 'angry' sprites. He sort of shrivels away, and it is absolutely awesome. One thing that was really cool is that a 'star' in our game makes the main character invincible, so I have created levels with just a line of enemies and periodic stars so you can literally just run straight through and kill all of the creatures and they do like this domino effect of dying animations.
More Screenshots:
Angry enemy attacks
Star cave and mushroom garden
Hiding from the enemy
Well that's all for now! I can't believe this is my first post in over a year. I have a couple projects (and hopefully some more crochet patterns) I've been meaning to write about so hopefully over Christmas break I will be able to make a lot of updates!
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