My midterm project underwent several changes (and will undergo some more) during the past week.
With 2020 coming to an end and after all of what we have gone through with this coronavirus pandemic, it would have been a shame if I did not make at least one of my projects in this class have a theme of COVID-19.
I imagined a game where a character is moved by the user around the screen while holding a hand sanitizer using which they fire shots at the incoming corona particles. I imagined that there would be two terrified characters, a couple who are the main character’s elderly parents and who would remain inside the house which has its interior visible to the user from the outside. I wanted the main character to try to prevent the particles from reaching their parents inside the house or else they would lose the game.
But then I thought that the game might not be as I want it to be because the interior of the house must be of some relevance to the functionalities where the character should be able to get inside or climb up the stairs for example, which would be unnecessary coding that I do not see as being worth it. In addition, I felt like it was very similar to other online games I have seen which makes it redundant.
Furthermore, I decided to change the idea a bit my making the fight not involve any parents but rather be inside a house and a character tries to protect themselves from being hit by the virus particles to survive.
I imagined that the player can, for example, go from floor to the other by running into one of the edges of the screen, and that they keep moving and shooting until they take down all of the corona particles.
The idea was actually better now for me and I decided that this character would best suit what I want to do in general, even if I have to alter the background to be more appealing design-wise.
But then after further research I found some sprites of the US president Donald Trump and I then thought that I can make my game political! I decided that I can make it be outside the White House and the main character would be Trump. The game would be of satirical nature and makes fun of the disastrous way the president dealt with the coronavirus pandemic allowing for the USA to be reportedly the number one country with COVID-19 cases worldwide.
Trump would try to kill the coronavirus particles with the ability to run only on the grass and jump once if the spacebar is pressed. I also decided to print out his most famous quotes about the pandemic, which were the most controversial, and let them fall down from the sky on banners to add to the excitement of the game.
I want to add power-up facial masks which act as some sort of temporary shield for Trump while dodging the corona particles’ attacks. I decided to use this sanitizer and this “bullet” for shooting.
I am still very unsure about my next steps and I hope to get a better sense of direction after meeting Aaron during today’s class.