This is the game which I created as part of the coursework requirements for my Digital Media and Games module in university. The following are descriptions of the game elements which I submitted for this assignment:
Game description
This game is a platformer shooter. The game requires the player to move to the right to progress through the levels. The player must navigate the terrain, avoiding or eliminating the spike vines and the robots. Health pickups can be obtained from defeating robots. The 3 levels are distinguished by the type of enemies present, the type of platforms, and the background graphics that are used. The first level/ starting area is designed to resemble a forest using grassy platforms, spiky vines as the first enemy that the player encounters, and with trees in the background which move using simulated parallax effect using 3D positioning of images. The second level differs from the first by introducing a new enemy type, the robot. The second area also incorporates changes in the platform types as the player encounters some metal platforms.
The final area is drastically different from the first because it does not have any trees in the background. The forest background from previous areas are replaced with metal surfaces. Also, the platforms which the player walks on are all metal. The boss is located at the end of this level and incorporates new gameplay elements by:
- Being the only enemy which launches projectiles. It does so randomly meaning that the player requires quick reflexes in order to avoid being damaged.
- Requiring the player to jump onto a platform in order to shoot it, also putting themselves at risk by being in the line of fire.
- Being an unrecognised enemy which requires the player to quickly observe and learn how it operates.
The player can win the game by defeating the boss and collecting the power source item that it drops.
Game story
In the distant future, our character is unlucky enough to get the spaceship equivalent of a flat tire. After a crash landing on a nearby planet, we discover the planet is habitable and has basic basic plant life… and something else. We’ve unknowingly landed on a planet being slowly taken over by an advanced robot species. With your ship in need of energy, you explore, looking for a suitable power source. Defeat the robots before they defeat you.
Target audience
I would say this is a game for anyone who enjoys simple games of a platformer and shooter genre as they would be more likely to play this game. I don’t have a specific target audience age range since games should be marketed to anyone no matter how old they are as long as the games are appropriate for them. I guess players could include both children and adults.
Game rules
- Avoid taking damage from spike vines and robots
- Shoot vines and robots or try to avoid them
- Move to the right to progress
- Destroy the boss and collect the reward to win
- If the character dies the game will restart
Description of digital media elements
The main type of digital media elements that I used are images and graphics which I’m happy to say I created all myself. I did the designing and creation in Affinity Designer, an application which offers a combination of both vector and raster design tools. I developed all the designs using vector tools. This allowed me to then scale and export the images as PNGs in the exact size that I wanted them in the game. This ensured that all the game sprites, images, and animations were an appropriate size and did not appear blurry. Furthermore, I used several different images to create a parallax effect in the game by scaling the images and positioning them in 3D space. I used this effect to create a dynamic background for the game which I think adds significantly to the aesthetics of the game. Although, I’ll admit I’m not the best at drawing trees.
Another form of digital media that I used was audio. I used several audio clips as part of the game including for background music, when the player or enemies take damage, and for the player’s footsteps on the different platform types (grass and metal). All the audio clips are free to use and I found them by searching an audio clip website (licenses and links available in attribution document). Some of the audio clips required editing to cut out the usable parts or shorten them. I did this using Audiotonic, a very basic audio editing software.
Evaluation
In terms of the finished game, I think it meets the requirements of what I wanted it to be. It is simple enough to understand how the gameplay and the controls work and I did my best to make it somewhat visually appealing. Because platformers are a very popular and easily recognisable genre of game, players are unlikely to have issues understanding the aim of the game (everyone knows platformers move from left to right).
I think there is of course a lot more I could add to the game if I had more time. For example, I had planned to add another enemy type which was based on a venus fly trap that would bite the player, but I did not have enough time to implement it so I instead made use of the image as additional background decoration. Also, I would have liked to add a way to provide information to the player about the controls or the current level they are in. This could be done using text or with images of signs incorporated into the level design. Furthermore, I also planned to add different background music for each of the 3 areas but there were more important game elements to develop before I could attempt this. Moreover, I would have liked to spend more time learning about the process of animation as this was my first time doing it and the animations that i created ended up looking a bit clunky.
In conclusion, I think that despite perhaps being too ambitious with my original ideas for the game, I managed to incorporate many elements and functionality that are great for a platformer game.
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