THE HOME STRETCH

It has been a good few weeks since I last posted and yet again a LOT has happened with-in a short period of time. As always I’ve been hard at it, working flat out on my current game… “Duck Pond”.

What has changed and why…?

1 – The player now has a set field of vision which they can throw items into, where as before they could throw items anywhere upon the pond. This field of vision enhances the game play greatly; it is linked directly to the avatar and gives the player a defined reason to move the old lady left and right.

2 – Most noticeably I have added TNT as an extra item, this allows the player to throw in explosives to clear away unwanted ducks for a short period of time. If the player hits the BAD ducks then points are gained, if the player hits the GOOD ducks then points are lost. I have given the user a set amount of x20 TNT, originally I had x10 but after play testing the game with various players I observed that they used x10 very quickly into the game, so I increased it.

3 – I have altered the background and given the ducks more room to swim about, thus allowing a bigger play area; this improves the game play yet again.

4 – I have increased the movement speed of the avatar (old lady) she is now a lot quicker on her heels and easily matches the ducks in speed. This allows the player to chase around a chosen duck and target in on them more easily.

5 – I have changed the way that I have coded the avatars left and right movements. In previous versions of my game the user pressed the left or right arrow keys and the avatar moved once, then paused, then started to move again. In Adobe's attempt to improve every aspect of Actionscript, they deleted some features that arcade game programmers have used for years. Thanks to a helpful explanation from a course mate I now have smooth character movement, cheers Chris!

6 – I have added several water animations to boost the visual feel of the game, a splash animation and a water ripple animation. I have also added an explosion animation for the TNT.

7 – Bonus ducks (little yellow ducklings) are a recent addition, if the player hits certain score targets BONUS ducks are unlocked, if the player feeds these ducks bread they will earn BIG points.

I have also been working on the menu screen and various other screens that appear throughout the game. The looming deadline is just a few short days away and I feel pretty confidant with my progress and what stage I am at.

I’d post the latest version up here but I want to wait till the game is complete, so for now here is a screen shot, click the image to enlarge to full resolution - (800 x 600)