INTRODUCTION
For my midterm project, I decided to build upon an earlier project concept, evolving it into a full-fledged interactive game called “Superman Saves”. This project incorporates the concepts and techniques I’ve learned in class so far.
CONCEPT
The concept of the game is simple: Superman has to rescue a person from danger by navigating obstacles such as clouds and birds. The player uses arrow keys to control Superman’s movements, helping him avoid the obstacles while trying to rescue the person in time. As the player progresses through different levels, the game increases in difficulty by speeding up the obstacles, making it more challenging to achieve the objective.
RESOURCES
For the background image, i used DALL.E AI to generate it. I got the sounds from freesound.org
HIGHLIGHTS
One of the more challenging aspects of the project was implementing accurate collision detection between Superman and the moving obstacles (clouds and birds). The collision detection logic ensures that when Superman gets too close to an obstacle, he loses a life, and his position is reset. The difficulty lies in precisely calculating the distance between Superman and the obstacles, accounting for the different speeds and movements of the clouds and birds.
The code snippet below handles collision detection for both clouds and birds, resetting Superman’s position and decreasing his lives if a collision occurs:
function checkCollision() {
// Check collisions with clouds
if (dist(supermanX, supermanY, cloudX1, cloudY1) < 50 ||
dist(supermanX, supermanY, cloudX2, cloudY2) < 50 ||
dist(supermanX, supermanY, cloudX3, cloudY3) < 50) {
supermanX = width / 2;
supermanY = height - 100; // Reset Superman's position
lives -= 1; // Lose a life
return true;
}
// Check collisions with birds
if (dist(supermanX, supermanY, birdX, birdY) < 50) {
supermanX = width / 2;
supermanY = height - 100; // Reset Superman's position
lives -= 1; // Lose a life
return true;
}
return false;
}
CHALLENGES AND IMPROVEMENTS
Creating the dynamic background and ensuring smooth movement was initially challenging. Managing multiple moving elements (clouds, birds, stars) required a balance between performance and visual appeal. Looking ahead, I plan to add more features such as power-ups for Superman, different types of obstacles, and possibly multiplayer options.
EMBEDDED CODE