The Road Traveled Again -- My Plans for Bazooka
Akake on 2009/08/20 12:51
of Raster Blaster
First, I'm going to store levels as images, much like Pymike did for his PyWeek 7 entry.
Default screen dimensions will be defined at compile time (As constants which can be supplied to make), but will (hopefully) have entries in the configuration screen.
On the art side, I've been inspired by this thread, and will be using the old EGA white/black/aqua/magenta color palette.
Also, I will be drawing my sprites in a super-deformed style(IE:Chibi). This includes characters, items, and even projectiles.
Between the player characters, Ricky will look like a soldier, and Suzy will look like a commando.
Ricky will wear a uniform, sans helmet. Suzy will wear a jacket and baggy pants, and she will have pigtails.
The baddies will look like generic enemy-type people.
Larry will have a pot on his head, and no shoes. (He looks dumb)
Marry will wear a jumpsuit and have a bob. (She looks like a mechanic)
Barry will wear no shirt and will have a beard. (He looks tough)
Garry will wear body armor and have a mullet. (He looks crazy)
The terrain will have a slight sci-fi look, as that is fairly easy to produce. Each tile will have four variations, including the entrance and exit.
I have decided on the characteristics of each character, as well.
Each character will be able to move, fire, jump, climb ladders, climb ledges, and push boxes.
In addition, the player will be able to pick up items, exit the level (By reaching the exit), and also has limited ammunition.
When a character tries to move off of a ledge, they do so with the intent to either jump or drop down. The player is given this choice while deciding their move.
The two player characters will have the following attributes:
Maximum Health: 20 for Ricky, 10 for Suzy
Maximum Rockets: 20 for Ricky, 10 for Suzy
Spaces Moved per Turn: 3 for Ricky, 6 for Suzy
Spaces Covered in a Jump: 1 for Ricky, 2 for Suzy
The controls are as follows: (Items following a slash are controls in the menu, and the third entry for escape is for the main menu)
Arrow Keys: Plan out Movement (Consumes the entire turn) / Select Menu Item
Space: Fire Rocket (Consumes the entire turn)
Tab: Switches between normal rockets and super rockets (Done at any time)
Enter/Return: Confirm plan for turn (Ends turn) / Confirm Menu Choice
Escape: Exit Level (Brings up dialogue frame) / Previous Menu / Quit Game
The enemies will build on these base characteristics:
Hits to Kill: 1 (Barry: 2)
Spaces Moved per Turn: 2 (Marry: 4)
Spaces Covered in a Jump: 1 (None Improve)
Damage per Shot: 1 (Garry: 2)can either do so with the intent to jump, or
Respawns After: 25 Turns (Larry: 10)
As a note, there are two types of enemy spawner: Those that allow their enemies to respawn, and those that do not. Which is which is decided in the level editor.
Items will come in three flavors:
Med Kits, and Rockets, and Special Items
Med Kits and Rocket Pickups each come in three sizes: Small (Restores 1), Medium (Restores 5), and Full (Restores All)
Small items respawn 5 turns after they are taken, medium items after 10 turns, and full items after 25 turns.
The special items are as follows:
Stim Pack: Doubles move and jump range for 5 turns, and respawns after 15 turns
Super Rockets: Gives 5 rockets that do double damage, and damage anything within 1 square of where they hit, and respawns after 30 turns
Supply Kit: Restores full health and rockets, and respawns after 50 turns
The terrain will include the following:
Empty Space
Solid Ground (Cannot be destroyed or moved)
Cracked Ground (Destroyed when shot)
Slightly Cracked Ground (Becomes cracked when shot, or destroyed if 2 damage is done to it)
Ladder (Can be climbed)
Box (Can be pushed)
Teleporters (Linked in pairs, up to four pairs in each level)
Entrance (Where the player begins)
Exit (Reach this to beat the level)
Enemy/Item Spawners (Invisible, displayed as background)
I know it's a bit much to plan this out now, but I want to get this all down, because I'm slowly but surely approaching the point where I'll have entities on-screen.
Here's hoping that's the case :-)
---Akake
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Comments
Cosmologicon on
2009/08/20 22:40:
claxo on
2009/08/20 23:07:
Tee on
2009/08/21 00:13:
I like the idea, by the way. Reminds me of Worms.
Akake on
2009/08/21 12:08:
Besides, I can't hide behind minimalism as an excuse for doing little work forever, am I right?
Of course, the gameplay will be simpler than the description suggests. The tile-based nature of the thing demands a couple pages of rules, but it'll be streamlined as much as possible.
That and... It's about blowing crap up with a bazooka! How can you not love it? >:-D
---Akake
Cosmologicon on
2009/08/21 12:53:
You may already have this, but let me suggest a couple really simple starting levels with something like one character, one enemy, and one weapon. Your design reminds me a bit of Lawn:TFFG from PyWeek 8, and I remember that the excellently balanced learning curve was a huge plus in that game.
Akake on
2009/08/21 13:27:
But, yeah, the first couple of levels will have minimal enemies and will introduce new concepts gradually. This will also let me make them while testing the game's features. :-)
At some point (Because I've decided to just hold myself to having a demo by the deadline) I'll add support for multiple level sets. With that, I'll add tutorial levels.
But I'll certainly try to tune the balance well. Alot of it, I think, will be making levels.
This may even warrant its own GoogleCode page. I'll have to think about that. :-)
Overall, though, I should have clarified some things about the game.
nitrofurano on
2009/08/20 18:10:
huge expectations! :)