Dualz
Project 23
Caracteristics
- Date : November 2021 - February 2022
- State : Finished
- Itch.io page of the game (requires java)
- Themes : creation of a video game for arcade purpose, space theme, short experience game
- Tags : Programmation, Java, Object oriented programmation, Drawing, Video game
Description
(Related to project 23 - Catch the ufo) During my studies at ENSEIRB-MATMECA, my friend Alexandre Boin was part of one of the two SO lists running for election. He proposed me a partnership to develop games to entertain the students of the school. I accepted and made two short experience games, this one was used by an arcade terminal built by them. It was present on their booth for a few days.
For this game that would be used by an arcade terminal, I wanted to take up an iconic genre of this platform, the games making two players face each other. I didn't want to make a fighting game like Street Fighter 2, too complicated to develop, long to balance and requiering complex resources. I was inspired by an old arcade game, Cowboy shootout, released in 1983 by Cowboy shootout . The principle is to make two players face each other on a horizontal scrolling map. The player can move his character in 4 directions. As the environment moves from top to bottom, it is more difficult to go to the top of the screen and on the contrary easier to go to the bottom. The characters are limited in their movements and cannot go to the center of the screen. Each character has the same amount of life at the beginning of the game and each bullet fired by one character that hits the other character removes one point of life. In this game there are obstacles in the center and on the sides of the game area. The principle is to avoid the obstacles that can hit the character and to shoot without having the bullet being stopped by an obstacle in the center.
The theme imposed for the partnership was space, so I chose to replace the cowboys by tanks. Then I gave some elements of history that helped me to draw some graphic elements. Two countries want to take over the gas reserves and a black and viscous substance used as fuel for futuristic ships. The resources have run out and the two countries are fighting for the last deposits. Since the conflict is taking place on a moon of a planet in a distant system, the two countries cannot send war machines larger than space tanks. Tanks are therefore the playable entities of the game.
When one of the tanks hits an obstacle, it skids on the lunar ground for a few seconds allowing the other tank to easily hit it. It is therefore crucial for players to dodge them. Finding it too hard to dodge obstacles with a free movement on the horizontal axis, I limited the tanks to two "rails", and the player can move from one rail to another with the direction keys. The Juicy Game, the notion of feedback, working on the quantity and the way to give it to the players. A shaking effect has been added on many interactions, there is a sound feedback for actions/interactions. Ships lose some armor (and the armor falls to the ground) when a certain amount of hit points have been lost. I also added a tank chain track because the rendering was quite nice and reinforced the horizontal scrolling idea of the game.
Finally, I created two additional game modes to the basic one. One for the case where a single player would like to test the game. He will be able to face an AI in the associated game mode. And for those who want to spice up their game, they can launch the rumble mode implementing powers. The latter load in about ten seconds and are three in number, a laser, the ghost balls (crossing obstacles), and the shield protecting from all offensive powers and obstacles.
Visuals (Click on one pick to enlarge it)
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