Protype and beginnings

My name is Angel Rivera and I am working on the game Boomerang Bob. This idea came about from a friend who challenged me to make a game in three days. I tried and failed. But I liked the idea I had for the game and felt I could repurpose the code. When we were presented this project, I stopped listening to the professor and thought about what game to make. I knew I had to go with 2D in Unity as that is my strong suit. Since my original game worked with a “sticky web swing” type of thing, I thought my game could involve a boomerang that can bounce off walls. An incredibly simple idea with huge potential, just like any other 2D platformer with a central mechanic.

For my first “level” I wanted to focus on the boomerang, making sure it works and feels good, and making a level to support this idea. I sat down to work on the game three times, making the code and boomerang better each time. I had to stop myself from pursuing too much because when I get into programming I don’t want to stop. I landed on keeping the player from moving for this prototype so that the boomerang is the only thing players can experiment with. I believe I made the boomerang as coherent as (reasonably) possible for now and am looking forward to seeing what other people think.

When it comes to feedback on my document, I was happy to see that I got no negatives and few suggestions. I would like to think this means that my idea not only makes sense but was communicated well is interesting. One comment I did get “I wish there were specific puzzles that would be challenging for the player” made me realize I didn’t really have any puzzles in mind yet. This made me start thinking up more mechanics and situations. This along with the Mario world analysis, got me more excited to design the game’s puzzles. There was also a comment expressing surprise that the boomerang can do many things, which suggests to me that I need a good explanation for this. I was also reminded that I couldn’t use copyrighted music for my game, so no music from my favorite games :(. But a comment that made me think, was “why does the scientist want the cheesecake?” I said I want my game to be as coherent as possible, so I thought maybe the cheesecake has some rare metal the scientist wants, but communicating this very simply is a little difficult. To me it pointed out that the “cohesion” I valued so much was already falling apart because this aspect is very nonsensical. And it’s the whole reason for the conflict, so I either have to change the story or execute it carefully.

I was told I could just focus on programming the boomerang, so I did. As my central concept, I felt that I should focus on it first and I was glad the professor agreed. After moving my code around, I realized I didn’t have to do as much work as I first thought, because I could have the ball bounce around itself. After creating the basics of the boomerang, shoot it where you click, bounce off walls, and return after a delay, I started working on refining it. I made sure that it couldn’t get stuck for obvious reasons. I played around with the speed, and I tried to focus on making cleaner and better code. I didn’t put everything in the update method again, used sensible naming conventions and tried to make things as universal as possible. To make items be able to be picked up, I made a generic script instead of one specific one, as I was taught in Game Scripting. As I expanded and perfected the mechanic of shooting and returning, I also perfected my code.

I wouldn’t say I necessarily figure out anything about my game I didn’t already know, I learned more in the process of creating my code and how far I’ve grown. It’s really cool to see all the skills I’ve gained come together and work so well. But focusing on the mechanic of throwing, I never felt bored or impatient playing the same puzzle, which to me is a good indicator that my idea will work. I also feel that I will be able to expand the mechanic very far out and in ways that are more complicated but intuitive.

I worked in engine so the only tools and problems I had were really with programming. But I love the process of coding and bug fixing so I don’t mind it, I just don’t like the waiting for it to load.

Apart from the story as a potential issue, I made this prototype free from any kind of movement, which might be a mistake. I’ll have to figure out how I want the player to move, and how difficult I want the obstacles and platforming aspects to be. Do I want enemies to be constantly on your tail, or a simple one-off distraction? I didn’t know the answer but thanks to the Mario reading I feel that I have a better idea of how I can balance these things out. I also do know that I want the difficulty to raise naturally but considerably with each puzzle. I’m bored of Nintendo holding back from giving challenge with their games, and I want to fix that with my own.

Here is a screenshot of the first level. The idea behind it was to introduce and have the player understand quite a few things at the same time. First, the boomerang can be thrown, bounce off walls, and push things around. Second, it takes time for the boomerang to move, and you can’t shoot it again until it comes back to you. Third, the boomerang can pick up things and it affects how your boomerang works. Fourth, you can drop items.

I think just like the first screen of Mario, this first screen involves just enough that the player can understand what they can and can’t do, while still being simple and engaging. I am looking forward to people playing this screen because with any puzzle, you don’t know the difficulty until others try it. This may be solved immediately, or players might get stuck. I don’t know, but we will see how effective this level really is.      

   
With this screenshot I wanted to mention color and differences. I tried to use color coding to help the player understand what they have to do. I feel that brown may remind the player of a cardboard box, so here I wanted this very simple obstacle to show that some things can’t be picked up, but still have physics that may or may not be useful.

Speaking of physics, I want this game to heavily really on them. The main puzzle is a great example. The red wall only really goes down with the added power of the red cube. I didn’t even have to program this to work, just use physics, but it shows that other future applications can be easily made. I also believe it makes some sense, but we’ll also have to see if this works out.