First Game Prototype

Over the course of two weeks, another student and I embarked on our first game prototype.  When trying to come up with an idea for my first game prototype I took inspiration from the games that I have been playing lately.  Games that are much higher in detail and scope than anything that I could possibly come close to in two week.  But hey, I like setting the bar high.

The basic premise of the game was to include two major game mechanics, a plat-former and a spaceship shooter.  This meant twice the work trying to get the physics just right.  We wanted a transition from space flight to an interior view for exploration.  All of this sounded fantastic in our heads until we launched into learning the ins and outs of GameMaker.  I spent most of my time learning the code syntax and reading the API.  I find that using code rather than the helper icons gave me an advantage when it came to fine tuning the physics.  Lines of code are so much easier to work with when you understand them.

During this process, I discovered very quickly that what we wanted to make we could not deliver at the level of quality that I wanted.  This led us to make a decision to cut out a major segment of the game, mainly the interior view or platform part. This allowed me to focus my coding skills on just putting the basic space shooter together.  I spent a good amount of time on developing the code for the side scroller so I was very disappointed when we decided to cut it out.   But all is not lost as we have plans to use this code to expand the game to our true vision for the final product.

I have to say, I was pleasantly surprise with the amount of positive feedback on our digital prototype despite the fact that it was only have of our original idea.  And this feedback is really what makes me want to continue to build on this game.  What I thought was a failure was actually enjoyed by others.  And that is a great feeling.

Link to game prototype:Scavenger