Final Project for Game Design Class, Run N' Gun Game

Final Game Idea and Formation:

For my final project in my game design class here at SJSU, I wanted to make a game that had similar mechanics and art to one of my favorite arcade games Metal Slug. After finding a partner for the project, who was also a programmer, we were left with no artist and had to rely on free online sources for sprites.

Visual Design of Game: 

I was able to find some royalty free sprites here (gameart2d.com). Since our team did not have an artist to make pixel art similar to Metal Slug,  I decided that these sprites would make due for the project with the time we had to complete. With these sprites I had to make certain modifications in photoshop, to make sure I had animations for all movements not included for the sprite. Based on the sprites, I decided on the title for the game Robot Assasin: Cat & Dog Onslaught.

Game Mechanics and Enemies:

This Run N' Gun style platformer allows the player to control a robot, who's objective is to kill/destroy all the kittens and puppies on the map. The mechanics for the main player include walking/running, jumping/double jumping, and shooting(aiming straight/up/down)/melee attacking. Throughout the levels, there will be power-ups and/or extra weapons for the player to pick up and use for a limited amount of time/ammo. Enemies walk back and forth on platforms, some will fall off platforms, and others will attack the player. There will be enemy creation buildings later, that continuously create units until they are destroyed. There will also be a boss at the end that will be more difficult to defeat than the creation buildings or attacking enemies.

Here is a First Draft of the Game Robot Assasin: Cat & Dog Onslaught.

GPS Gaming with Pokemon Go

In our game design class, we decided to jump on the bandwagon and all start playing Pokemon Go.

If you don't know about Pokemon GO it is an Augmented Reality game that takes advantage of everyone and their children having cell phones, by allowing anyone with a capable smartphone to go out and catch some Pokemon. Just like Ash right? Well maybe not...

About Pokemon Go

Personal Experience:

I Started playing Pokemon go when it first came out as a way to kill time, but the game really lost base with me. After a week or so of play, I was tired of the limited amount of activities you could do with the app besides catch Pokemon's and decided to uninstall it for other apps. 

When I got the app again to play for this class, little to my surprise the app had not changed at all. The company that made the game has yet to create any extra gameplay for users and the game is not much better in a crowd. Being with friends to play Pokemon Go is probably better than playing the game by yourself, yet the act of playing Pokemon Go in a group makes me want to stop playing and just be with the people around me.

Mechanics:

1) Exercise - This game gets people outside and moving, in order to play the game well. If you are stationary, there will be less Pokemon to catch or Pokestops to collect from.

2) Use of Location/GPS - Depending where you are on earth, there can be more/different Pokemon around or more concentrated areas of Pokestops.

3) Social - People can help one another out by putting lures that attract Pokemon to an area. This makes it so people can work together to play the game better. 

4) Challenge - People can battle one another at gyms, to earn in-game currency and experience. People want to collect them all before their friends.

5) Collecting - The main mechanic of the game is to capture and collect Pokemon, in hopes to collect every single one!

Bouncy Bullet Prototype

Link to Prototype of Bouncy Bullet

Game Authors:

Jake Davis - Producer, Programmer, and Music

Marc Brodeur - Designer and Artist

Description:

Bouncy bullet is a platform game where your objective is to defeat all the villains in each level. To fire your gun use the space bar, but beware your bullet will bounce around the room and you can only fire one bullet at a time. Use the left and right arrow keys to move the main character, the down arrow key to force yourself down in the air, the up arrow to jump, the up arrow after that to double jump, and hold control to run. When you come across any Villi-nator 2000's make sure to shoot them till they are gone, or else they will continue to produce enemy units! At the last level fight the evil boss Mr. Bubbles. After completing the game, you can decide whether to restart from the tutorial, enter the next difficulty, or enter Infinity Mode. (Some bugs here in infinity mode that will be fixed soon)

If you read my previous blog Bouncy Bullet Game Development and Alpha, you'll know that I started this game in a class at SJSU and this is my turn-in for the project. I was given about a months time to work on this with the help of my teammate, and I'm proud to say it has gone far since I posted the alpha just two weeks ago. You can try out the previous version and compare it to this one to see how far it has gone. The bullet, character, and enemy animations are improved, the game is much longer, and there are limitless difficulties to test your skills.

Add-Ons:

One addition to the prototype that really made a difference was the bouncing animation for the bullet. With this addition, the game was given a "Juicy" feel that brings life to a game. Before this was added, the bounce had the same mechanics, but was smaller and had didn't even change image angles when it hit a wall to match what direction it was going.

The Game was a great learning experience, and I hope to continue work on this game and make it even better. 

Go try Bouncy Bullet today and see how you can do!