Recently, I started working with HTML5 a bit more. I'd used the canvas and audio elements months ago, but quickly went back to Game Maker after that. As I work with it more these days, I'm finding it incredibly easy to use for game design. I think I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to get some experience making 2D games. I don't know if it's the greatest medium for things like advanced lighting, but it's great otherwise.
You don't even have to stick to 2D games. Check out the official Wolfenstein remake: www.wolfenstein.com. As a ray caster, it's not technically "3D", but it's certainly not a 2D platformer. You can do actual 3D as well, but that requires extra APIs that seem to be browser specific as far as I've seen.
Anyway, on to what I want to talk about. I'm starting with canvases, since they seem to be the most basic part of an HTML5 game. This is assuming that you already have an understanding of HTML and JavaScript.
Saturday 23 June 2012
Friday 8 June 2012
Movement "Helpers"
The topic today is "helpers". I'm not talking about allied NPCs, but about code that helps the player play the game more easily. Auto-aim is at the extreme end of this category, but I generally stick to helpers that improve the player's ease-of-movement.
When you run sideways and there's a person-sized hole in the ground, what should happen? I tend to think that you should run over it. After all, a real human being will not simply drop through a hole just because it happens to be in the way. Then we have to ask, what if the player wants to fall through the hole?
When you run sideways and there's a person-sized hole in the ground, what should happen? I tend to think that you should run over it. After all, a real human being will not simply drop through a hole just because it happens to be in the way. Then we have to ask, what if the player wants to fall through the hole?
Saturday 2 June 2012
Ground Rules
It looks like it's time for my first tech post. Today, I'll be talking about how I like to set up random/procedural worlds for endless-world games, such as We Want YOU and its upcoming sequel, They Want ME.
The goal of map generation in WWY was to make every area look unique and random, while still always having an available path. We don't want people getting stuck in pits and having to restart the level.
In WWY, the system wasn't perfect. People could, in fact, get stuck in pits once in a while. We ended up adding the C4 item for this reason. It wasn't a weapon and it took too long to explode for it to be "fun" to use often. Its purpose was to get players out of otherwise inescapable situations.
TWM uses an altered version of the same system, which removes those inescapable situations from the game and allows the player to move upward, whereas WWY always had the player move downward.
The goal of map generation in WWY was to make every area look unique and random, while still always having an available path. We don't want people getting stuck in pits and having to restart the level.
In WWY, the system wasn't perfect. People could, in fact, get stuck in pits once in a while. We ended up adding the C4 item for this reason. It wasn't a weapon and it took too long to explode for it to be "fun" to use often. Its purpose was to get players out of otherwise inescapable situations.
TWM uses an altered version of the same system, which removes those inescapable situations from the game and allows the player to move upward, whereas WWY always had the player move downward.
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