Day 5: Permanence (i.e. killing enemy aliens is fun)

justinmeister on 2014/05/15 06:57 of Bouncy Shoes
— edited on 2014/05/15 06:58

I think I can say that all the basic game mechanics are done. Today I added a death animation for enemies killed during bouncy mode. One fun thing I added was that instead of the enemy just disappearing from the level, their dead carcass is left on the ground. It's a simple effect, but adds a lot to the game. If you haven't seen this talk on "Screen shake" and other things you can do to make a game better, you should because it's great. It's where I learned about this idea of permanence.

The Art of Screenshake

Another interesting, but minor effect is that dead enemies are randomly placed into a group that is either in front of or behind the player. This gives a little depth to an otherwise 2D world. Again it emphasizes the permanence of the player's impact on the world.

The player is also damaged if he touches an enemy when not in bouncy mode. I added a little red tint effect when he bounces back to emphasize the damage. I have to add in the concept of player health (and potential death), but that is for another day.

Goals for tomorrow: Time to create an actual level. After that, I need to do all the no-fun little things you have to do to make a complete game: title screen, player health, score, sound effects, etc. If I have time after finishing these boring but important things, I'll add more levels.

Github Repo: Bouncy Shoes

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Comments

reidrac on 2014/05/15 07:35:

They look sad! I mean, even for dead aliens!

justinmeister on 2014/05/15 07:37:

They had it coming.

reidrac on 2014/05/15 07:47:

Fair enough! :)

mauve on 2014/05/15 08:58:

That looks like a pretty good talk, the one on game feel. Thanks for the link!