Video Game Design and Development | JM Mahoney
Peggy the Pirate
Progress has been slow as time and other obligations being a big constraint amongst our team. Nevertheless, now with all hands on deck, the expected release date will still be on target. Hope ye be ready for a swashbuckling good time in the final release.
Current state of original code as of March 22: map layout loaded from file with custom player placement, mouseover showing the top symbol at that coordinate, and console output includes time-travel safety check
Game progress has been stalled for a while, resulting in the movement of some deadlines to catch up. However, with multiple group members are now working on different areas of the code, project completion is estimated to still be on schedule.
We had been dealing with issues regarding collaboration, but we mostly resolved learning how to utilize Version Control. So far, we’re still planning on implementing a narrative but we’re going to have the gameplay be more survival with hordes of enemies and possibly adding a player score. Currently, we have multiple planned enemy types and up to four different weapons for the player to utilize.
As predicted by many after our Initial Pitch presentation, the implementation of a quality Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Zombies mod is proving to be a more difficult endeavor than our group originally expected. Our biggest challenge thus far has been acclimating ourselves to the development environment of Radiant Black. Through the use of Youtube tutorial videos, I (Casey) have gained significant knowledge of the environment and the essential objects and containers needed for the game to run properly, the road to which resulted in multiple new maps after making catastrophic mistakes during design.
Another major hurdle in our quest to make a new style of Zombies map is the considerable time constraint. Our plan to create new game rules such as a winnable ending and creation of unique buildables is still in effect, as well as other features such as Air-drops and bosses are also still planned to be implemented at the time of the alpha demo. One sort of “mini project” as we referred to it that will likely be out of scope due to time constraints is the inclusion of an RPG style class system, which would allow the user the ability to use different items, weapons, and abilities to escape the zombie horde. [Read more…]
Stevie Longlegs has remained mostly unchanged from the original concept. As stated in the initial pitch, the game will be an infinite side-scrolling runner with obstacles to avoid and holes to jump over. A high score will be obtained by playing for the longest time with the game’s best high score being recorded.
A few changes from the original idea are being worked out. The first is the character sprite being used for testing. The original large green character had only one walking/running animation. In order to keep moving ahead with game mechanics, a robot sprite is temporarily being used because of its pre-designed running and jumping animation. No decisions have been made as to whether the little green hero will definitely remake his reappearance but the speculation is that the game would not be true to its nature without him.
Another change from the initial design is how the health of the character will be displayed. Initially, there was plans for a health bar that would fill and empty based on time from last powerup and obstacles hit. The current version does not have a health bar but rather the character slowly moves further to the left of the screen as the health decreases. This will eventually culminate in a large monster fixed on the left side of the screen devouring the character if his health degrades too far. Power ups will restore the runners health and help him get back to the center of the screen.
