In a job interview last week here in Melbourne the interviewer asked me if I'd programmed a Space Invader game before, to which I replied no. He then asked me how long I thought it would take me to program one, with the goal being to deliver a product ASAP. I replied, "A couple of days full-time".
So after getting home and having a bit of a think about it, I decided I would go for it and take the unspoken challenge. I now present you Spacer! A simple yet complete space invader game.
Download: [url]http://users.tpg.com.au/thesdale/folio/Spacer.zip[/url]
Code: [url]http://users.tpg.com.au/thesdale/folio/SpacerCode.zip[/url]
Dale
simple but good - great marketing device if you're submitting this to them :)
I realise it may be too late, or that it's simply finished and not to be touched again, but a bit of balancing to maximise the fun level may be a good idea.
- player speed faster (feels too limiting)
- multiple hits before game over (or no sense of achievement)
- pickup! If multiple hits is implemented, a pickup to +1 hit
At this point it's all about presentation -- with a few simple tweaks and additions it becomes fun and more game-like than a simple demo novelty. Great job on a speedy demo :)
I'm actually fixing some bugs in it now, so if there's any suggestions feel free to post them. :)
JI Styles:
When you say multiple hits before game over, what exactly do you mean? Player lives? There are currently player lives (but a bug in it sometimes cause the first hit to be game over). Or do you mean hitpoints for the player similar to the motherships? Also, player speed being shot speed or movement speed?
I'd say hit points similar to the mothership -- and maybe try upping speed for both movement and fire rate/shot speed. Hit points to make it more accessible (more achievement than punishment, greater sense of wins than losses), speed up to make it more frantic paced and enjoyable :)
I think I hit the game over bug a few times, was kind of confused about that :D
Yeah I got the 'one hit game over' thing going, and the whole shi-bang froze up on me once - I was kicking butt too damn it! I think JI might be right with the speeding things up comment. I felt my ship was a big, slow whale :( and that was a little discouraging for taking on those little fighters that came in, I tended to just plough a straight line and take on the motherships.
edit: played a bit more and have some maybe useful crits-
the enemy ships that escaped my wrath don't scroll right off the left hand side and collisions with fighters on the side of my ship has no effect!
Some suggestions (some may be out of your scope, but I would look for all of these in a "complete" game):
1. give the ship some armor points as JI has said
2. make the player's ship smaller... it feels too fat (for a fighter) it makes it difficult to manuver in front of incoming bullets or ships
3. when the player dies, make it explode over a few seconds. it will make it clearer what's happened
4. what the hell is with that music? :P you need something fast and with a beat!
5. power ups will make the game more fun and rewarding as you go along. It adds a reward for staying alive (those motherships look like prime targets :) ).
Also, I had it crash a few times... the music still plays and it sounds like the game might still be running but there's nothing being rendered, it just keeps swapping the back and front buffers.
sweet, i'l see how it goes