loeffrt

[loeffrt]

Asteroids postmortem

Postmortems in programming help developers to review what went wrong with their prototypes/games and what caused those problems. I will be doing one of these for every game i prototype in the future.

issue:

Through playtesting the game my main issue with it was that it wasn't very fun or repayable.

why:

the reason why it is boring is that compared to modern games, original asteroids is very boring and simplistic. To amend this, a modern twist could be added to the game such as roguelike or uncompromising elements.

[loeffrt]

Space Blaster development log

Taking the more constrained approach has benefited this project greatly as i was able to complete a mostly finished prototype for testing.

during self-testing, i tried to self-test with a clear mind as recommended in chapter 9 of the game design textbook:

"One good skill to learn that will make your self tests more valuable is to try playing with a “fresh” mind." Fullerton, Tracy. Game Design Workshop : A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games, Fourth Edition, CRC Press LLC, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/qut/detail.action?docID=5477698. Created from qut on 2025-04-24 01:12:22.

doing this gives me a better playtesting approach, allowing me to view it as a player without development knowledge. During playtesting I found that the game was relatively boring as it doesn't do much with the dated original concept of asteroids.

(gif of space blaster testing)

[loeffrt]

Starting a new game

I enjoyed the process of beginning my platformer game 'front track' but I believe the scope I have for that game is larger than the time I currently have to allocate for it, so I aim to continue it later when I have more time.

Continuing with my work for QUT's IGB120 I must begin an asteroids style game, while it is not my preferred genre, it is a useful asset to add to my arsenal of programming skills, and many of its features can be adapted to a top-down shooter.

So as to lower the scope of this game compared to the last one, I have decided to pitch a basic asteroids game following the tutorials on GDevelop, allowing me to finish the project in time for the next one.

Gampelay:

Asteroid style game where the player flies around and shoots asteroids to survive.

motivation:

players will be encouraged to survive for as long as they can, gaining a score, which they can push to surpass other peoples scores.

Target audience:

all ages.

Player role:

a ship pilot, using lasers to blow up asteroids

Genre:

asteroid/action shooter

setting:

space

Elevator pitch: 'Space Blaster is an action shooter game where the player must survive the dangers of asteroids in space, gaining score the longer they survive. Players must practice movement and shooting in order to increase their high score, competing with their friends to see who is the best.'

My next post will involve my development of the asteroids game.

[loeffrt]

Beginning the game

I started programming fast track (my IGB120 platformer game) and was able to get a few of the core elements working, I programmed in the character, the infinitely generating stage and platforms, the running and jumping and a few basic visual assets.

I began with the character since that is what the part of the game the player will interact with the most. I created a running and jumping animation for the character which I am very happy with, the character design is similar to the google dinosaur game dinosaur but with cybernetic components, a sheathed sword, a cape and an epic hat. the slightly odd running animation with the legs pays homage to the source material.

running animation

jumping animation

the above animations can be easily slowed down and sped up depending on how fast or slow I want to make the game.

The basic elements of the game were simple to program. The player is held in place, and everything is sent towards them, respawning randomly in place off screen in front of the player. I ran into issues where the platforms were taking too long to get to the player as they spawned too far away, they were also spawning higher than the player could jump. I fixed this by adding a range in which the platforms could spawn, thereby making them more useable. The player is positioned to the left of the screen rather than the centre, giving them plenty of time to see oncoming obstacles.

At the moment, the game is just the google dinosaur game but with no obstacles and platforms, so my task before my next post is to add enemies, obstacles, attacking and parrying.

brief showcase of the current game state

I am not overly happy with the ground and sky assets at the moment but I will probably update those later.

[loeffrt]

Beginning a game

Our first task at QUT is to make a platformer game in Gdevelop for IGB120, which is an engine that sort of mixes python elements with the simplicity of Scratch. The engine itself is more of a way for professional developers to quickly develop a prototype for marketing reasons, making it perfect for early developers such as myself. From readings done in the textbook The Game Design Workshop by Tracy Fullerton and from information gained from lectures, I have begun to learn the most important aspects of creating a game. The most important aspect of every video game is gameplay, AKA the core elements that the player experiences while playing the game. Gameplay greatly outweighs other things such as graphics, story and sound design as it is the main reason people play games, if people wanted to play games for those other aspects, then they may as well just go watch a movie. Considering my lack of experience and my status as a game dev in training, I decided to program a side scroller platformer game which makes the player focus on avoiding/countering obstacles that get in their way in order to accumulate a score or points based on how far they were able to get without dying.

The aspects I considered when creating this idea are:

Gameplay:

my gameplay will focus on moving forward and jumping, with attacks and powerups the player can use along the way to further increase their score.

Motivation:

ideally, the player will be motivated to play the game through the score, which they can theoretically push to infinite heights due to the infinitely generated state of the side scroller.

The unique way that powerups interact with the player character should motivate players to try different combos in order to achieve an optimal strategy

Target audience:

all ages above 5, the game will have a low skill floor and a high skill ceiling

Player role and setting:

the player will play as a cyber dinosaur, attempting to cross an endless post-apocalyptic desert.

Genre:

action side scroller

I also learnt about Elevator pitches early which are 2-3 sentence descriptions of the core gameplay elements of a game and are often used to advertise and pitch game ideas. I created a temporary elevator pitch for this post which I will probably update as I develop the game

'Front Track is an action side scroller, roguelike, aiming to give a more exciting twist to googles beloved dinosaur game. The game forces the player to cross an infinite wasteland, dodging objects, slaying enemies and countering projectiles while collecting items to make their runs easier, but faster. the player will utilise all mechanics in a combined harmony in order to accumulate the highest score they can."

early groundwork of the game using temporary assets

Fullerton, T. (2018). Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games. ProQuest Ebook. Retrieved from: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/qut/reader.action?docID=5477698

[loeffrt]

Introducing myself

I am an aspiring Game designer studying first year of the Bachelor of Game design and interactive environments at QUT. I love programming and have many ideas I hope to bring to fruition over the course of my studies and in the future years afterwards. This blog will mostly discuss my studies and how I apply them to designing games, focusing on providing informational updates on any games I am programming, especially for QUT assigned tasks.