AngleTri

I decided to show my latest game even if it is far from being finished. I would say most of the basic gameplay is done, but I still have to debug some issues, which is taking me some time. Anyway, while I work on it, I wanted to show you a small preview, and when the game will be more advanced you will be able to see how much it changed!

Overview

In this game, you put triangles of different sizes (and colors) together in order to make a form. This is really similar to some puzzle game (not video game) I've played before, but I can't remember how it was called. What I want to change about it is to make it more action oriented, so that the triangles are given to you randomly and you have to place them as they come. If you don't place them correctly, you can still complete the level as there are some bombs which can destroy the triangles.

Gameplay


Gameplay of Alpha Version

The final version of the game will not allow you to choose which triangle you want (in the video) but you will be given a random one. Therefore, you might not find a suitable place for it. If it is the case, you will need to use a bomb, which can destroy it later on. You get more points if you are fast, if you don't put triangles outside of the form, and if you don't use bombs.

Reflexions

As simple as it sounds like, it really is hard to program (how to tell the computer that you filled correctly the entire form, or that you put a triangle outside of it?) But I found a solution and I only need to make it work in every situation (I have some special cases related to bombs that create bugs). My other worry is that the game doesn't give so much fun. The gameplay is quite simple in the end. I need to be extra careful for the level design, as I think it is what will really make the game entertaining or not.

I will add some other "triangles" which won't have the form of a triangle, but which will fit in. That way, it will make the game harder, and will give more gameplay value. But let's make it stable before talking about new additions! :)

Potato in the Kitchen

I started a new game two days ago, and I just finished enough to make it playable and do a quick simple level to show the gameplay! Here we go!

Overview

After a friend suggested me to make a potato the protagonist, I decided to try. I was going to make an alterable platform game, so I was not paying too much attention to the context or anything, but I ended up with the potato being stuck in a kitchen and trying to find its way out (an open window, at the top of the level). The potato is being helped by a fork, which can move slices of bread, that the potato uses as platforms.


Gameplay of Test Level 1

"Potato in the Kitchen" is a scrolling tower platform game, so just like Mario but on the vertical instead. I wanted to add something special and I thought about a creation possibility (like in Rainbow Islands where you can create rainbows and then walk on them. And then I thought "why not making the player move the platforms instead?" Hence we are on a PC and we can use the mouse to do so. So basically, the fork (the mouse) can drag and move the platforms (the slices of bread) and then make different paths for the potato to move on.

Gameplay


The movement of the potato is quite simple: left and right to move, and up to jump, and it can jump up to two blocks high. And actually, the fork (mouse) is also really simple. You click on a slice of bread you want to move, and then while holding the mouse button, you drag in the direction you want. Of course, if there is another block or something else in the way, you won't be able to move it (which makes it really long and difficult to program...)

But here are some elements that had fun to the game. First, beware of the knives, as they can cut the small potato you are, and it would mean to start the level again. Knives bounce from left to right, which means that if you move a slice of bread in their movement path, knives will bounce on it. You can therefore block the knives and make your way without being cut. For example, here the picture on the left shows how you can use the slices of bread (the one with a number "1") to block their movement path.

Another important element is the timed slice of bread. These objects have a number on them, and it indicates the number of moves they have until they disappear. And if they do so, a new slice of bread will be created at its initial position, so you can try again with the new one. These timed slices of bread add a puzzle element to the gameplay, so we can have both action and puzzle, which is shown in the part of the level of the picture on the right. The player needs to move the slice of bread up to be able to jump, yet he needs to pay attention to the knife. He also needs to destroy the slice of bread so that a new one appears, on which he will go and drag upwards to be safe. All of that before the knife comes back! So it definitely is puzzle and action oriented.

The top part of the level features a small puzzle, as the player needs to find where to place the slices of bread to make his way through the window, the final part of the level, where the potato will be able to get out of this kitchen.

Reflexions

As much as the mouse dragging system is innovative and fun, it was really hard to program. A lot of bugs arose and I had to find ways to correct them, which wasn't easy at all (which is why it took me two days to only make this). I still need to test more for collision detection, as I found some other bugs (especially in the upper part). The timed slices of bread also don't always appear, but this is because of limitations in Multimedia Fusion (i.e. I can't make objects inherit properties from others like I would be able to with a programming language). One way to arrange that is really time consuming and I preferred modifying the level design so that no one would notice it in the video. Yes, that's a wrong practice, but at least I don't hide it, and I know I could find solutions if it was to be a professional game.

I really had a lot of fun playing and testing it, being able to move any platform makes really a good addition. I think I did a good job with the dragging programming, as it is intuitive and works well. The graphics, as always, are not so nice, yet they share a thematic, so it's a good thing. I also don't have so many different objects or monsters, so I would need to think about good ideas (the only ideas I have right now are not so interesting...)

Future Additions

New kind of blocks (slices of bread) should be added, with new enemies. But as for additions in the gameplay, I don't have many ideas. The mouse could be also used to deflect enemies, instead of only dragging objects. Maybe I could add a score system (and some collectibles that add points to the score) and a life system, so that when you are touched by an enemy, you can still continue where you were, up to maybe three times. But then, all of these additions are the usual platform genre stuff, so it's nothing really new or interesting.

I'll put this project on hold for now because I can't find any interesting idea, I will definitely come back to it later to make it more complete. But for now, I will start a new game, which might be a multiplayer arkanoid-like game!

Bricky Part 2

Here is the continuation of the description and thoughts of the gameplay in my game called Bricky. We've seen the first 4 test levels, and today I will only cover one level, as the concept of the boulders is quite complicated. That will make an end (for now at least) to this game.

Overview

Test Level 5 includes boulders, these grey balls that can be moved, just like boulders in a puzzle game can be pushed by the player. I'm actually playing Zelda Phantom Hourglass so I guess this is where my idea came from, even if it is a common feature in a lot of puzzle games.

Gameplay


Gameplay of Test Level 5

First, let's see the electric fields. They are simply electric lines coming out from the grey + object in the middle. The ball is destroyed if it touches one of it. The only way to pass through it is to use a boulder.

The boulders are "complicated" movable objects. To move one boulder, the ball has to touch it. If the ball touches from the left, then the ball will get "inside" the boulder, the boulder will move one position left, and finally the ball will get out of the boulder to the left. They can be placed on holes, which will make them appear out of the other corresponding hole (boulders placed on Hole A will move to Hole B, and those on Hole B will move to Hole A).

What seems to be something quite simple gets more complicated. First, if the boulder is close to a wall, and the ball is going in the boulder facing the wall, then the ball is going to get thrown into the wall. This is logical with our idea, yet it makes the level design really hard. For example, you can't bring a boulder close to the level borders, as you would be thrown in the border by doing so. A small trick needs to be done, which can be seen in the video, and it is actually a real pain to include this every time.

Then, to pass through an electric field, the boulder has to be located either under the electric line, or right next to it. Like we've just seen, this causes a problem has it is quite hard to move a boulder next to an object that will destroy the ball, like the electric field.

When multiple boulders are next to another, the ball will get inside every of them and only the last one in the series will move. This adds an interesting part to the game, yet it is hard to design and make use of it.


Level 5

Reflexions

The electric field is quite boring in my opinion, but I was just trying to make the start of a series of them (which I did in my childhood). For example, I wanted to make a line that is vertical and turns to be horizontal when a switch is pressed (and vice-versa). This could lead to an interesting level design, as many switches can be placed and you can progress from one zone to another.

After some thought, boulders are an interesting idea but I didn't manage to make it fun. Yet a simple solution would be to make the ball bounce when pushing a block. That way, the border/wall problem would be solved. It would make it much easier for the level design too, as you don't need two blocks to move a boulder, but only one (as you'll be bounced back on it). This idea won't allow multiple boulders lined up, or at least there won't be anything interesting with it (or maybe it could make move all of them, or only the last one?)

Yet these boulders are quite boring in my opinion. Their only use is to pass through electric fields. Maybe if there were some enemies it could block them (but again, what for?) I could also use the boulders to block the electric field, and let the player pass next to it, and this seems to work better with my new idea of the ball bouncing on the boulders than with my previous one shown in the video.

Future Additions

In addition to the modifications previously noted, a lot of new objects could be added to this game.

Enemies: Numerous enemies can be added, such as one that bounces from left to right and another one from top to bottom. Then we could have one that moves close to a wall and always circles around it (always turns right or always left). Something could be throwing "arrows", that could be stopped by the boulders.

Electric fields: As mentioned before, these could come in different forms and come with switches that would turn them.

Moving Robot: There could be some kind of machine (robot) that when the ball is in, it stays in and then you control the robot. So instead of throwing the ball with the four directions, it would move the robot from one position. To get out of the robot, simply walk on a block, the robot will stay where it is (as the robot can't move on blocks) and the ball will get inside the block.

Multiple balls: There could be some kind of object that separates the ball into two, and therefore make it two different balls. And both would be moved at the same time, so if you press up, then both balls are going to go up. For example, if one ball is already in a block and the other one is still moving, then you can quickly make the first one move and you don't have to wait for both. It makes both strategy and action at the same time, which is really good. The dividing object could only work when there is one ball (to allow a maximum of two), and to lose one it would only need to be thrown on a wall or something.

This is all that comes in my mind right now, yet I think it is pretty easy to find much more ideas. With too many new objects, one could decide which ones are the best suitable for a particular audience, throw away the other ones, and then make a game out of it. Because having too many objects makes it confusing for the player, he will stop playing after some time, which is not what a designer wants.

Conclusion

That's it for this game, I might go back to it if I have some interest, but for now I want to try creating a new one, more action oriented, that you will see quite soon!

Bricky

Hello everyone, this is my first post here. I am currently a student aspiring to be a video game designer, and I was considering to make a portfolio of some of my creations. Therefore, I will post here my ideas of game design, my experiments, and maybe even share my games! I think that way I will end up with a really awesome portfolio, but I might also get feedback from some of my readers which would help me be a better game designer!

Overview

I started yesterday evening to create a game that I call "Bricky". I'm not sure where exactly I saw this game before, as I was really young, but I remember I was amazed by its game design and immediately tried to copy it (after playing for less than an hour). What I liked about this game was its simpleness (the player only moves in four directions) but its gameplay and level design made it a really addictive puzzle game. So, at that time, I opened The Games Factory and started making the basic same gameplay, then added some things of my own, and with the help of my enthusiastic little brother we went to create some pretty cool levels. Now some 10 years later I decided to make it in a more professional way, using Multimedia Fusion 2.

Gameplay


Gameplay of Test Levels 1-4

So, in that game, you (a blue ball) move from block to block (which look like bricks, hence the name) to reach the exit. Pretty simple concept, yet some more information need to be added. When you are "in" a block, you can choose between the four directions (up, right, down or left). When you select one, you have no more control of the blue ball, you only see it going in a straight line of the chosen direction. Then it either goes into another block, or it crashes on a wall, which would make Game Over. So suppose you didn't crash, you are in a new block and you can again choose between the four directions to move to another block in search of the exit.


Level 1

Let's look at the first demo level I made. I included blacks arrows to show the walkthrough of this simple maze. Yet as simple as it looks like, you might have seen that as soon as you move to a new block, you need to look all over to find where to go next. One way is to start from the end and make your way back to the blue ball, but you might need a really good memory. Anyway, this level is pretty simple, there's only one trick (the bottom left block) and it's hard to get squeezed in a wall. Yet, we need to give the player some time to get used to this new game.

Mouse gesture
Because it is a PC game, and not a DOS game like the one I was inspired, I decided to include a way to play with the mouse. The keyboard remains a faster way to play, but yet some people are clickers, and so they will get into the game more easily. Whenever the ball is inside a block, like in the screenshot, the four directions will show in semi-transparent "bubbles" around the block. The player only needs to click on one of them to make his desired move. Here, the mouse is over the left direction, as it is shown by the brighter bubble.


Level 2

The second level introduces arrow blocks and crystals. Crystals (or diamonds, or anything else) are collectibles and are necessary to make the exit usable (when grey, it acts as a wall, so you die by touching it; it becomes yellow when all the crystals have been collected, and then you can touch it). The number of crystals left to grab is indicated in the right part of the screen (many other information could be added there, yet I don't really know what else I should put as of now). But what makes the gameplay interesting in this level are the arrow blocks. If you touch the left arrow block, your ball is going to be automatically thrown to the left. Hmmm, doesn't sound too fun, but yet it will be essential if you want to progress through the game. These arrow blocks can make combinations, can throw the ball through a wall, or make it turn in an infinite loop (speaking of that, I need to include a way to restart a level if this ever occurs). For example in this screenshot, if the player moves left, he will be thrown downside by the arrow block, then right and finally up to get back to its initial position, with four crystals collected! And while the ball is in movement in this "circle", the player has no control, he needs to wait and see what happens (hopefully he thought a bit before making his move).


Level 3

The third level brings a lot of new gameplay elements. First, a simple brick block separates the level in four parts. Then, at the bottom, four colored doors block the access to the exit. The player will therefore need to find the corresponding keys in order to open the doors (they will open as soon as the ball touches the same colored key). This level therefore consists of four little rooms where the player needs to use his brain in order to get the key. Here it's nothing difficult, but at least the player will get some satisfaction as new elements are included but not explained.

In the top-left part, the four-arrows block is a random direction block, so when the ball touches it, the ball is thrown in either of the four directions. Getting the key might therefore take some time, but it's only a question of being lucky. There is a pivoting orange arrow block in the top-right corner, and it changes direction (up, left, down, then right) every second. So if you touch it while it is oriented right, then the ball will be thrown to the right. What is a bit tricky here in our example is that in order to touch it, the ball needs to go through a "corridor" of arrow blocks. And it takes some time. So the player needs to figure out when exactly he should throw the ball into this corridor, so that when the ball gets out of it and touches the orange pivoting block, the arrow is oriented to the right. It might take some tries to figure it out, but here the failure consequence is simply a retry.

The bottom-left part includes two different bidirectional arrow blocks, which work as a random throwing direction, just as the other block we just saw. Yet what makes it interesting here is that since they are connected together, it might take a long time for the ball to get out of this corridor, as it might come and go infinitely for unlucky people (but hopefully the ball will get out quickly). Finally, the bottom-right part is really simple if you start on the block in the bottom-left part. When you have all the keys, the doors are all opened and you can access the exit.


Level 4

The fourth introductory level makes full usage of teleporters, these + colored objects. The teleporters work like this: when the ball touches a rounded teleporter (like the one just right of the starting position), the ball is teleported in the corresponding colored "thrower" (the different shaped + with curly contours). So if we take a look at our example, by going right at the starting position, the ball will touch the blue teleporter and will get out from the thrower at its right, to touch a red teleporter and be thrown at the bottom, where the red thrower is. An important aspect of these teleporters is that if the ball is going in the left direction and touches the teleporter, the ball will also be thrown in the left direction by the thrower. This therefore demands some thinking from the player. For example, in this level, to reach the exit he needs to touch a red teleporter by going up, which is only possible with one red teleporter. One will notice that there is only one thrower for every color, but could be many teleporters of the same color. The explanation for that doesn't deserve to be detailed here.

Reflexions

I have to add here that it took me a considerable amount of time to design the fourth level, yet it is actually quite straightforward to play. I was planning on doing a lot of closed corridors, but because there are only four throwers, this is impossible. For example, the bottom part is quite messy and useless; only the right green teleporter is used (yet the other ones might confuse the player, which is part of the game). The blue thrower is used only once at the beginning, and would have been a good addition if used more, yet it is quite useful to the understanding of the new objects in the level. I could have found a more suitable location (for example no brick wall around it) but as I wanted to make it simple for the player to understand the concept, so I had to let it like this. Another problem I had is the text shown (which is actually hard to read), as it stays here for the whole time (if it was a real professional game, I would make the instructions show up first in a pop-up, and then have the game field cleared of any obstruction). Another difficulty I had was that I couldn't put any "Active Object" (all objects except brick blocks) as they would show on top of the text and would make the text impossible to read.

So this is the simple gameplay of my one-day game, I have some electric fields and complicated boulders to show up tomorrow, and hopefully I'll find some other ideas by then! But for what is shown in these four levels, I'm really glad of the result. It didn't take me a lot of time to put everything together and I think some people could really enjoy playing this not-completed game, as much as I do. The best would be of course to let them create their own levels through a level creator, which is what I've been considering while I was making the game (it actually makes it easier for me when I design the levels, and it makes it harder but better!) but here I was mostly concerned about the gameplay, not the publication of the game.

Just for your information, 28 different objects were used to make these four levels. Impressive, isn't it? Try to count them!