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PROJECT PROPOSAL

A 2-player maze chase game built on p5.js. Players are each assigned a role, the hunter and the prey. The maze is set in the nighttime, meaning that neither the prey nor the target can see the full maze. Each player is equipped with a flashlight, which spotlights them and allows them to see some surroundings. Prey’s goal is to escape the maze before the hunter chases them. Hunter’s goal is to catch the prey before they escape from the maze. Prey’s flashlight is stronger and hence allows us to see more of the maze because I feel like their goal may be more challenging to fulfill.

BIGGEST CHALLENGE

I identify my biggest challenge for this project as the building of the maze itself. I have the hardest time understanding the logic behind the building of anything that uses grids. Besides that, I have minimal knowledge of algorithms that allow for maze generation. To help myself with that, I will refer to the multi-part youtube tutorial by The Coding Train, in which they create a maze generator using a depth-first search algorithm with recursive backtracking. I have also found this page useful in introducing myself to the pros and cons of different maze-building algorithms.

IMPLEMENTATION

I decided to start by addressing my biggest concern for this project, which is adding a self-generating maze. The tutorial that I have referred to uses a randomized depth-first search. After looking through other possible algorithms, I have settled on Kruskal’s algorithm, which generates more dead ends in the maze. So far, the code that I have generates a maze with one player and one maze exit. The player can move around the maze using WASD for controls. The maze exit doesn’t do anything yet.

THINGS TO WORK ON

Basically everything else (e.g. sound, player sprites, spotlight, intro window, player interaction, etc). As for the maze, I need to add another player to it, and possibly control the position of the maze exit so that it is closer to the “prey” than to the hunter. For now, it is pretty easy to get from the start to the end of the maze even with all of the dead ends. However, I think that the difficulty of the game won’t be a question once I have the spotlight feature implemented.

Concept & Design

For this Midterm Project I would like to create a game using everything I have learned so far in class. The game will be called “The Martian” and the objective of the game is to guide the Mars Rover through the treacherous terrain of Mars, collecting valuable resources and avoiding hostile alien spaceships and rocks on the surface. The player will have to navigate using keyboard and mouse as they progress through the game. In “The Martian” the player will experience the thrill of driving a Mars Rover on the surface of the red planet. With challenging terrain, hostile aliens, and valuable resources to collect, the game will offer hours of exciting gameplay. The use of p5.js will enable the creation of a visually stunning and engaging game.

Potential Design Elements

Complex part of midterm project

For me personally the most frightening  or complex part of this midterm project is to implement a collision detection algorithm. The idea is to detect the collision between Mars Rover and other objects like valuable resources and hostile alien spaceships or rocks. I also have to somehow come up with an algorithm to distinguish between these various collisions with different objects. Because if the Mars Rover collides with valuable resources the Score should increase and if it collides with the rock or alien spaceship it should end the game and display the restart button. Also because I didn’t have any previous background in using sound and animation libraries I would have to test them out.

Implementation & Reducing the risk

Here I wrote some code for the collision algorithm between Mars Rover and Rock:

if(ufo$.isTouching(rover)||stone.isTouching(rover)) {
            console.log("end");
            state="end";
            ufo$.destroyEach();
            stone.x=width+400;
            stone.velocityX=0;
            rover.visible=false;

            gmov.play();
               
            textSize(30);
            textFont(font);
            fill("black");
            text("The End",width/2,height/2);
        }

        if(mousePressedOver(switchBtn)) {
            sd=1;
            click.play();
        }
        if(sd==1) {
            state="pause";
        }

I also tried to implement the spawn of Alien Spaceships:

function spawnEnemy() {
    ufo=createSprite(width+50,Math.round(random(xp-100,xp+20)),80,80);
    ufo.velocityX=-5;
    ufo.addAnimation("ufo",ufo_);
    ufo.scale=0.2;
    ufo.lifetime=Math.round(width/3)+15;

    //ufo.debug=true;

    ufo.setCollider("circle",0,0,200);

    ufo$.add(ufo);
    console.log(xp);
    cx-=4;
}

Concept

For the midterm, I want to develop a simple game “Survive the semester”. In this game, a player should catch different items to continue playing until time is over. In case time reaches 0, the player won. For now, my plan is to make game over in cases when player’s health or joy levels reaches 0. I intend to include 2 progress bars reflecting student’s health and joy. Different items will have different effects on the bars, e.g. catching sleep will increase player’s health. Though, the game logic is not yet finalized. I may do it the way that if student fails to catch something, health/joy is deducted.

Design

I chose the NYUAD night picture as a background image. I am a kind of student who does a lot of study-related work at nights, so this choice was a bit relevant to me to reflect the game theme on studying.

Implementation

For me, the most frightening part was to get an idea of what game I want to develop. I would not describe myself as creative, and creating original game takes a lot of effort and time to me. I was also concerned on the progress bars and updates to them. I did not finish their implementation now, but I got the idea on how to work on them and I believe I should be able to finish it well before submitting my work.

I have also implemented the main mechanical part of game – involving falling ball and catching figure. I will  change the image of falling objects and catching rectangle to adjust to my game design objectives. I kept it simple for now to test if it works as it should first.

Future Steps:

I got a lot of ideas on my mind and I am excited to see on what I will end up implemented for this game!

Yet, what I would definitely need to add to my implementation:

• Sounds. Should be fun experience to select those =)
• More images. Especially, for falling objects. Falling ball is irrelevant to my game now.
• OOP. It should not be a problem.
• Better visuals involving text. Now it is basic, I may need to make the visual part of game provide better UI and UX to the player
• More enhanced game logic and progress bars!

Link to the sketch: https://editor.p5js.org/ds6058/sketches/1lbHkjJpV

My idea for my midterm project is to develop a variation of the classic brick breaker game. Instead of breaking bricks, the objective of the game is to prevent the ball from dropping from the bottom of the screen. The game will feature various items that the ball can hit that the player must navigate to keep the ball in play.

One of the unique features of the game is that hitting an obstacle can affect the gameplay in various ways. For example, if the ball hits a “sizing” obstacle, the size of the bar at the bottom of the screen may increase or decrease. Another obstacle could change the speed of the ball, making it either faster or slower. Some obstacles may be stationary, while others may move back and forth, making it more challenging to keep the ball in play.

The game will have different levels, and as the player progresses through the levels, the game’s difficulty will increase, requiring the player to react quickly and adapt to the changing gameplay.

I will get a better understanding of the complexity of the game once I start coding it but some of the challenge I believe I could possibly run into are the following:

– One of the most crucial aspects of the game is the collision detection between the ball and the obstacles. I will need to create an algorithm that can detect when the ball hits an obstacle and determine the correct response, such as changing the bar size or ball speed.
– Integrating a continuous scrolling background in the game to add a dynamic and immersive element to the gameplay experience. I have looked into some code examples that I could use for this.
– Finding the right balance between challenging and enjoyable gameplay. For this I will need to playtest the game extensively to ensure that it provides enough challenge to keep the player engaged, but not too much to become frustrating.