Midterm Project Progress

As part of the midterm project, I am designing a game around the theme of coping with stress as an NYUAD student. It was really difficult for me to settle on one single idea as I found myself trying several different things for hours and then ultimately deciding on this idea finally a night before the submission is due.  The intended game design is to collect the falling activities (that increase or help cope with stress levels). Each activity is associated with a certain number of points and special abilities such as boosted/ slowed down the speed of the player. The player moves across the screen horizontally and tries to catch points. All missed points are added to the stress level and if the stress level reaches 320, the player loses. If the player collects 320 points first, he/she wins. The user is allowed the option to restart the game also.

Production

To start with the implementation, I sketched out some layouts of my instruction screen and main page.

I then created a simplistic version of these pages to later come back and design them. The whole navigation across the game is based on keypresses and mouse presses. Specific keys are set to allow the selection in the game and proceed forward with the setting. Below are the snapshots:

Here is the code worked on until now

//Global variables responsible for various states in game
//That includes: difficulty select, playing game, game over
Game start;
Player player;
String state = "MAIN";
String difficulty = "EASY";
Activity[] activityarray;

//setup the game
void setup(){
  size(600,450);
  start = new Game(state, difficulty);
  activityarray = new Activity[30];
  //choose random x values and drop activities
  for(int i=0; i<activityarray.length; i++){
    float x_pos = random(0,width-50);
    float type = random(1,50);
    String activity_ability = "FOOD";
    //randomly choosing ability
    if(type < 5){
      activity_ability = "LEISURE";
    }
    else if(type > 45){
      activity_ability = "GOODGRADES";
    }
    if(type > 10 && type <=25){
      activity_ability = "DEADLINE";
    }
    //create new activity object
    activityarray[i] = Activity(x_pos,start.speed,activity_ability);
  }
}

//game class
class Game{
  String mode;
  String level;
  int score = 0;
  int lostpoints = 0;
  float speed = 0;
  float drop_speed = 30;
  float frames = 0;
  
  Game(String state, String difficulty){
    mode = state;
    level = difficulty;
  }
  
  
  void display(){
    textAlign(CENTER,CENTER);
    
    
    //check for game over
    if(lostpoints >= 320 || score >= 320){
      mode = "OVER";
    }
    
    //load the main landing page
    if(mode=="MAIN"){
      loadPixels();
      for(int y=0;y<height;y++){
        for(int x=0;x<width; x++){
          int index = x+y*width;
          pixels[index] = color(map(y,0,height,155,0),0,map(y,0,height,255,0),50);
        }
      }
      updatePixels();
      textSize(50);
      text("//GAME NAME",width/2,height/3);
      textSize(18);
      text("START GAME (G)",width/2,2*height/3 - height/14);
      text("INSTRUCTIONS (I)",width/2,2*height/3);
      textSize(14);
      text("Press corresponding keys to initiate the game",width/2,height-height/14);
    }
    
    //loading the instructions page
    if(mode=="INSTRUCTIONS"){
      background(120);
      textSize(30);
      text("//INSTRUCTIONS",width/2,height/10);
      textSize(15);
      text("//Use arrow keys to move across the screen",width/2,2.5*height/10);
      text("//Eat healthy to gain +10 pts",width/2,3.5*height/10);
      text("//Perform well on assignment to get +20 pts ",width/2,4.5*height/10);
      text("//Do refresing leisure activities to get boosted speed",width/2,5.5*height/10);
      text("//Deadline pressure decreases speed",width/2,6.5*height/10);
      text("//Missed pts are added to stress level. First to reach 320 pts win",width/2,7.5*height/10);
      textSize(22);
      text("//START GAME (G)",width/2,9*height/10);
    }
    
    if(mode=="DIFFICULTY"){
      background(120);
      textSize(30);
      text("//DIFFICULTY LEVEL",width/2,height/10);
      textSize(20);
      text("//EASY (E)",width/2,3.5*height/10);
      text("//MEDIUM (M)",width/2,4.5*height/10);
      text("//HARD (H)",width/2,5.5*height/10);
    }
    
    
   //game over screen
    if(mode=="OVER"){
      background(150);
      textSize(40);
      text("GAME OVER",width/2, height/5);
      textSize(25);
      text("Your Score:",width/2 - width/6, height/3 +height/15);
      text("Stress Level:",width/2 -width/6, height/3 + height/7);
      text(score,width/2, height/3 +height/15);
      text(lostpoints,width/2, height/3 + height/7);
      text("points",width/2 + width/6, height/3 +height/15);
      text("points",width/2 +width/6, height/3 + height/7);
      if(score>=lostpoints){
        if(score==lostpoints){
          text("IT'S A TIE\nWanna try again?", width/2, 2*height/3);
        }
        else{
          text("YOU WON", width/2, 2*height/3);
        }
      }
      else{
        text("YOU LOST\nWanna try again?", width/2, 2*height/3);
      }
      textSize(15);
      text("//Please click on screen to restart game",width/2,9*height/10);     
    }
    
    
    //main game screen
    if(mode=="PLAY"){
      background(255);
      
    }
  }  
}

//player class
class Player{
  float pwidth= 100;
  float pheight = 100;
  float base = 600;
  float xPos = width/2 - pwidth/2;
  float yPos = height - (height - base) - pheight;
  boolean left = false;
  boolean right = false;
  float speed = 5;
  float fast_time = 0;
  float slow_time = 0;
  
  Player(){}
  
  void display(){
    
    //tracking the time when boosted speed
    if(speed == 10){
      fast_time += 1;
      //last 100 frames
      if(fast_time == 100){
        fast_time = 0;
        speed = 5;
      }
    }
    
    //tracking the time when slowed speed
    if(speed == 1){
      fast_time += 1;
      //last 100 frames
      if(fast_time == 100){
        fast_time = 0;
        speed = 5;
      }
    }
    
    //update the position on screen
    update();
    
    //change color based on ability
    if(speed == 1){
      tint(214,87,77);
    }
    else if(speed == 10){
      tint(237,211,81);
    }
    
    //draw the player
    fill(50,0,50);
    ellipse(xPos,yPos,pwidth,pheight);
    
    //stop tint
    noTint(); 
  }
  
  //update the position of the player
  void update(){
    if(left==true && xPos >=0){
      xPos -= speed;
    }
    if(right==true && xPos <= width - pwidth){
      xPos += speed;
    }
  } 
  
}


//Class of falling activities/ points
class Activity{
  
  //resizing required
  float awidth = 50;
  float aheight = 40;
  //coordinates
  float yloc = -aheight;
  float xloc;
  float speed;
  String ability;
  //standard point
  int point = 10;
  //image
  PImage activityimg;
  
  Activity(float xpos, float s, String a){
    xloc = xpos;
    speed = s;
    ability = a;
    
    //updating point values
    if(ability == "GOODGRADES"){
      activityimg = loadImage("test.png");
      point = 20;
    }
    else if(ability == "LEISURE"){
      activityimg = loadImage("leisure.png");
    }
    else if(ability == "DEADLINE"){
      point = 0;
      activityimg = loadImage("deadline.png");
    }
    else{
      activityimg = loadImage("food.png");
    }
  }
  //display the images
  void display(){
    image(activityimg,xloc,yloc,awidth,aheight);
  }
    
  //update the locations
  void update(){
    //move down
    yloc += speed;
  }
    
  //check for collisions
  boolean collisions(){
    if((player.xPos + player.pwidth >= xloc) && (player.xPos <= xloc + awidth)){
      if((yloc + aheight >= player.yPos) && (yloc <= player.pheight + player.yPos)){
        
        //check if it collides with special activity
        if(ability == "LEISURE"){
          player.speed = 10;
        }
        if(ability == "DEADLINE"){
          player.speed = 1;
        }
        return true;
      }
    }
    return false;
  }
}

void draw(){
  start.display();
}


//keep track of key presses on screen
void keyPressed(){
  if(start.mode == "MAIN"){
    if(keyCode == 73){        //73 = 'i'
      start.mode = "INSTRUCTIONS";
    }
    if(keyCode == 71){        //71 = 'g'
      start.mode = "DIFFICULTY";
    }
  }
  
  if(start.mode == "INSTRUCTIONS"){
    if(keyCode == 71){        //71 = 'g'
      start.mode = "DIFFICULTY";
    }
  }
  
  if(start.mode == "DIFFICULTY"){
    if(keyCode == 69){        //71 = 'e'
      difficulty = "EASY";
      start.speed = 3;
      start.mode = "PLAY";
    }
    if(keyCode == 77){        //71 = 'm'
      difficulty = "MEDIUM";
      start.speed = 6;
      start.mode = "PLAY";
    }
    if(keyCode == 72){        //71 = 'h'
      difficulty = "HARD";
      start.speed = 10;
      start.mode = "PLAY";
    }
  }
  
  //move until key pressed
  if(start.mode=="PLAY"){
    if(keyCode == RIGHT){
      player.right = true;
    }
    if(keyCode == LEFT){
      player.left = true;
    }
  }

}


//stop motion when key is released
void keyReleased(){
  if(start.mode == "PLAY"){
    if(keyCode == RIGHT){
      player.right = false;
    }
    if(keyCode == LEFT){
      player.left = false;
    }
  }
}

//replay the game
void mouseClicked(){
  if(start.mode=="OVER"){

    start.mode = "MAIN";
    noTint();
    start = new Game("MAIN","EASY");
  }
}

Challenges

Aside from taking so long to decide on one single project, I have encountered several issues. First and foremost, my whole game can not be executed once all the classes have been defined and all the code has been linked together. I have done my best to make as much progress I could on the overall game, but I am hoping with a few more hours of work, I’ll be able to finish off linking my code and making it work.

More to Add

Firstly, I need to finish off the basic code and allow for the basic functioning of the game to be complete. Then, I need to work on the design and aesthetics of the screen and overall game. Lastly, I need to resize my images and add sound to the game.