Concept:
For my midterm project, I decided to create something inspired by one of my passions, Formula 1. I have been a huge Formula 1 fan for years, so I wanted to create something for my midterm project that I will enjoy working on.
I knew I wanted to create something related to Formula 1, but it took me some time to come up with my final idea. In the end, I decided to create a pit stop simulator game.
A pit stop in Formula 1 is the process of drivers coming into the garage to change their tyres mid-race. The entire process needs to take about 2-3 seconds to avoid the driver dropping out of places in the race. Below is a video demo of what a pit stop looks like.
The game would consist of 3 rounds. In each round, the car slides into the screen from the side, and you are given the order in which you need to change the tyres. You must click on the tyres in the correct order to change them as quickly as possible. If you click the wrong tyre, you get a 2.0s penalty added to your time. Your goal is to score the lowest time possible
Design:
I started constructing samples of what I would like the visuals to look like. Below is a sample introduction screen, instructions page, and gameplay screen.
My original idea for the actual gameplay was to have an image of the pit stop view from the top. Something like this:
However, I am struggling to find the exact image I am looking for, which is just a cartoon-ish pit stop area image, clear of the car and pit stop crew. Therefore, I designed the game differently for now. If I do find the background image I am looking for, I will change the design.
For sounds, I plan to incorporate a sound for the car pulling into and out of the “garage”, and the sound of the wheel gun when the player selects the right tyre.
Most Challenging Part:
Something I am a bit stressed about is tracking everything. When I think of how to implement each feature individually, it seems simple in my head; however, connecting everything, such as displaying the next tyre to be changed after the user completes it, and detecting if the user has clicked the right tyre or not, sounds a little bit overwhelming.
Another challenging part is ensuring all the elements on the screen move accordingly when they are in full-screen mode
Risk Reduction:
To reduce the risk, I need to properly plan which classes I am going to create and what elements need to be linked together before I begin coding. I think this would help me a lot with the full implementation and organization of the code. It would also give me a better understanding of how to translate my vision for the game into reality.