PRODUCTION
final animation
WHAT
Animation
WHEN
05/11/2018
This is my final animation. Here I used several different tecniques in order to produce a product that clearly links to my theme. This Doodle is for International Dog Day, August 26th, and features several service dogs in the animation.
MUSIC SOURCE
making the game
WHAT
Construct3
WHEN
19/11/2018
This is basically the finished version of my game. It contains 4 levels, plus a boss level. In the game there are 3 enemy types: cars (jump on to kill), lightning (unkillable, avoid) and hoovers (shoot). I have spread them along the levels so that the first level is very easy - simply collect the bones - and it gets progressivly more difficult from there.
I was going to have the final boss use the same enemies as presented in the rest of the game as it shows good continuity, however I preferred the idea of using cat themed enemies. I have used the same methods of killing the eniemes though; shoot the cat, avoid the fish/claws and jump on the final cats.
I added the loading/splash screens to flesh the game out a little more, as it is very basic for a platformer. ALthough my theme is International Dog Day, I used to opportunity to also highlight an important current event - Finn's Law.
Title Screen
This is the coding for the title screen. It allowed me to have an interactive menu; by holding down the space bar, the instruction for the game pops up. After the 'New Game' option is selected, it goes to the loading screen.
Level 1
This is the level with the most basic code. It implements the characters set animations, the 'Lives' and 'Items' text/global variables which allows the player to potentially lose and keep a tally on the number of bones collected.
When the number of bones is equal to 10, the game goes to the load screen for Level 2.
Fixing Level Restart Bug
During the process of making the game, I learned a lot as I was going along and fixed earlier issues. This one stood out to me, as it posed a real problem for how I wanted the mechanics of the game to work. Previously, when the player died, the whole level restarted, with the lives going down by 1. I have now fixed that so that the game doesn't reset the bones, and when the lives run out the player goes to the previous level.
Level 2
Here I have added the car enemy, which is destroyed by jumping on. If the player walks into the car, the player is destroyed and they lose a life. If all the lives are lost the player goes back to the previous level.
Level 3
I added a global variable called 'lightning speed' so that the lightning would fall down the screen at a relative pace. Most of the other code could be copied across, as it was simply the player movement and bone collection. The change here was to include when the lightning hit the player they were destroyed.
Level 4
In this level I have introduced an ammo system, so the bones that are collected are integral to being able to complete the level. Each of the hoover enemies require two hits to destroy, adding another element of difficulty to the game. The bones spawn randomly along the areas the player can run through, as do the enemies.
Boss Level
I have used all of the concepts from previous levels and incorporated them into the boss. The ammo system for the bones is very important as the boss requires a lot of hits to destroy. It has three stages, the first stage where it shoots low enemies that must be avoided. It then respawns higher in the level. There is also a secret after the first boss is destroyed - an extra life in the form of a badge. The second boss stage made me add 'duck' to the control scheme, as it was impossible to be on the same platform as the boss and not be immediately hit by the 'claws'. After that boss is destroyed, 10 smaller cats spawn randomly in the level which have to be jumped on to destroy. The win screen then loads.
Load Screen
This was the simplest piece of code to integrate. At the end of each level, the next level's load screen appears. I set the sprite to 'fade' and for the screen to last 6 seconds before going to the level. This allowed ample time to read the level hint, and to include all the dogs from the Google Doodle I created.