Cycle 2 Week 1

A new week, a new cycle, and a whole bundle of new problems to face. Without delay, our class have broken up into groups with mine including: William Roberts, Blake Shortland and John Valdez. This time, we have to reimagine an 2D arcade game from the 80s as a 3D local multiplayer for up to 4 players. Unlike before, where we only had to pitch one game, we have to pitch two completely different games and have our lecturer decide on which game we are to proceed with. Our first task on Monday was to research a couple of arcade games and discuss which games from the past would do well as multiplayer game. As most arcade machines barely had enough room for two simultaneous players, we had to consider the implications of the additional players. At the end, we came to the agreement of two games: Tron and Lunar Lander.

I was assigned head of programming for this project again and I have full intention on keeping it that way this time. Before our pitch on Thursday, I quickly created a prototype scene for both games, so I would already have a head start no matter which game is chosen. Last cycle, I wasn’t exactly punctual to the pitch. This cycle unfortunately, it was any different. I got to the class late again, however, the class decided to postpone the pitches until I arrived. After the pitch, the lecturer decided on Lunar Lander. The game will have up to four people racing each other to land on the ground below them with only a limited amount of fuel. Some landing areas will give the player more points than the others so a much more competitive experience than the original.

The prototype I already created is very simple, all it has is a crude-looking spaceship that can change direction with the arrow keys and propel forward with the spacebar. However, this game needs to support 4 joystick controllers, which is something I’m definitely not used to. During this week, I’m going to have to research how to handle multiple joystick inputs and not lose my mind keeping track of it. Hopefully I can figure out how to assign every joystick to a ship before Monday so we can start playtesting.