Tropical Death Game Design Challenge Part 3

Playing in Unity.

So after a little fooling around in unity it looks like this.

I'll Start by explaining the behavior I've Implemented so far, then what I hope to work on next.









So at the moment there are 2 kinds of fruit, apples and bananas (the red and yellow spheres).  Adding models to these later will be easy.  I'm planning on leaving the Sphere colliers so that the fruit will roll well and not get stuck.

So the Fruit Spawner is

















All I need to Do now is add in the baskets at the bottom and make it pretty.

Tropical Death Game Design Challenge Part 2

Fruit Spinning Puzzle Game.

So we're spinning bits of wood, to sort fruit into correct baskets.  The Pipes will flash up a picture of the fruit about to drop to give you time to prepare.  As time goes on fruit will come faster and faster.  Each fruit into the correct basket will increase score.  Fruit that miss the baskets and hit the spikes won't be penalized.  But put the wrong fruit in the wrong basket and you lose a life.

I'm moving away from having cross pieces, since the idea will be to build paths for the fruit, and cross pieces will catch and hold it.  I want the fruit to keep moving as much as possible to keep the pace in the game.








Coding this in unity should be fairly easy.

On a game controller object,

if (timer =< 0)
{
        spawnFruit();
        timerReset();
}

for the planks,

onMouseClick(Left)
{
       transform.Rotate(0,90,0);
}
onMouseClick(Right)
{
       transform.Rotate(0,-90,0);
}

and for the Baskets

onCollisionEnter(collider Type)
{
if (type = basketType)
{
score ++
}
else
{
life --
}
Type.transforme.gameobject.delete;
}

Should be enough to get prototyping.

Tropical Death Game Design Challenge

Group Brainstorming Sucks. Ask a group of students to come up with some game design key words and what do you end up with?

Island, Water, Eating and Impalement.

The Goal? A single screen game based on these key words made in Unity.  In two weeks.

So some ideas:
A Single Screen Plat former with spikes on either side blocking the player in (impalement), with fruit falling from the sky that the player has to try and get beneath to eat. while avoiding giant spiky balls.

The platforming level consists of islands and water.

OR

A pinball game with a tropical resort setting.  Knock food off the buffet and into peoples mouths for a collection challenge (the little flags where you have to knock down all of them for bonus points) (Eating).  A pool near the top of the level with a water slide into that leads strait onto the left paddle (I'm sure there's a pinbally word for that I don't know).  Knock coconuts off trees (trees are bumpers) for a counting challenge.

OR

I wanted to make a 2d automatic running game, but this didn't fit the single screen requirement of the challenge.  So in a fit of mean spirited cheating I thought, what if the character didn't move, and the obstacles and rewards came to him?  I was thinking of a fast flowing river, dodging debris and saving people.  Could have been a tropical monsoon?  But I liked the tropical resort thing from the last idea.

I ended up with a fat guy on a flotation ring in a pool, with fruit coming down water slides and you having to maneuver to collect it (eat) while avoiding some kind of hazard (spikes in the water or other swimmers?)

After about 2 minutes I realized this was almost identical to the first idea, although I came at them from very different directions (The first I wanted to make a marioesque platformer, the second an endless running game.  Ok, not VERY different).

OR

A puzzle game, Fruit drops from pipes near the top of the screen and needs to be sorted into the appropriate baskets.  Sorting happens by rotating planks of wood on screen to direct the fruit in the correct direction.  Plank's should rotate 90 degrees when click and -90 degrees when right clicked.

The planks might be flat or cross shaped or L shaped.

Possibly control The rotation of the planks with a fan, player moves fan up and down side of the screen.  The fan blows all planks in line with it, turning them like windmills.

Here is a Crappy drawing of my 4 ideas.

Game Design Update

Story Ideas.

Protagonist is a treasure hunter ala, Indiana Jones hunting for the lost treasure of Rex Marksley, the legendary explorer who discovered these islands.  this leaves the 'bounty hunter' missions as side missions while providing context for a larger story arc. (each temple will lead to another, etc)

Outline for first level:

In order to introduce the 3 game play elements involved in the game (Platforming, shooting, flying) the introduction needs to be very carefully paced.

The game will start with a cut scene of the protagonist looking at a map while flying.  A dramatic, 1st person, 50's private eye style voice over will inform the player that he has found information that a lost temple is hidden on Lapuku Island and he's going to find it.

His train of thought is interrupted by a sudden thunderstorm, and his plane his hit by lighting, forcing him to crash land on the island.  During the crash he is thrown from his plane and his gun is knocked from his hip and is sent flying into the jungle.

The Game play starts with the player searching the jungle for his gun.  This section of game play will introduce the player to moving the character and camera and jumping, etc.  Game play will be third person with a free orbiting camera.

This short level will teach the player how far they can jump (into small pits with no consequences for failure) and how to crouch (under fallen logs etc) .

The player will see their gun in a clearing but when they walk towards it, both player and weapon will tumble into a hidden pit.

The second level, is set inside the temple.
Large Temple Guardians, which look like large stone suits of armor, lie dormant until the player moves too closely and wakes them.  Once awake they slowly and inexorably move toward the player until he moves out of range again.

The guardians will be between the player and the door, lining a long hallway, however they will be easily avoided if the player moves forward without stopping.

This allows the player to meet the Guardians in a safe environment and learn about their skills and abilities.

The Second room will only contain two Guardians   both standing either side of the door.  If the player moves up to them they will move forward and block his exit.  To solve this puzzle the player must draw the guardians away from the door and get behind them using an alternate route.  The player should be able to work this out using their understand of the Guardians behavior from the last room.  solving this puzzle will help the player to understand that escaping the rooms will usually involve indirectly influencing the guardians into an ideal position.  (this concept will later be built upon with buttons). The Steps for this puzzle are:

1. Lead Door Guardians Forward
2. Move into side path
3. Exit room

The third room will further extend the second room, by placing a Guardian in the alternate path the player must use to bypass the Door Guards.  This adds another step to the puzzle and teaches the player how to layer their actions. So the steps for this puzzle are:

1. Lead Side Path Guardian into main path
2. lead door Guardians  forward
3. sidestep side path Guardian (skill learned in puzzle 1)
4. Move into side path
5. Exit room.

This puzzle uses all the skills the player has learned so far (sidestepping, maneuvering) as well as forcing the player to use these skills in conjunction with each other.  

My Next step is to diagram out these puzzles (because text descriptions dont really work) and develop a few more.  Programming the AI for the Guardians will be fairly easy although they may end up being large stone idols (because sliding is easier to animate than walking ;)

I hope to have a small prototype testing the first few rooms within a week or two.