Road to Eldorado
After achieving geometry Instancing and integrating this with the Entity Manager that I am currently using I decided to create a small game to show off the Instancing and the advantages to the environment.
Initially this was just a simple idea to show how it could possibly be used and I made a small track that was instanced, 2000 cactus' on the left of the track and 2000 on the right. I then used the instancing to place various gems across the track that could be collected by the main player which is a car. Below is a video of the game at its initial creation:
Initially this was just a simple idea to show how it could possibly be used and I made a small track that was instanced, 2000 cactus' on the left of the track and 2000 on the right. I then used the instancing to place various gems across the track that could be collected by the main player which is a car. Below is a video of the game at its initial creation:
As you can see it is only a very basic game and isn't exactly challenging. At this point I started to think of ways in which to improve it and came up with various ways in which the user could be challenged. The main two ideas were either a time trial, i.e. you have to get so many gems in the time otherwise you can't progress to the next level. My other idea was to have the level a set distance and then you simply have to collect as many as you can before the end.
I decided to go with the later of the two ideas and implemented checkpoints at which the speed of the player would increase making it much more difficult to collect the gems. Below is a video of the game once these aspects had been implemented, also there is input at the end for the players name:
I decided to go with the later of the two ideas and implemented checkpoints at which the speed of the player would increase making it much more difficult to collect the gems. Below is a video of the game once these aspects had been implemented, also there is input at the end for the players name:
Highscores and Sound Using FMOD Ex
I took the player input section a bit further and implemented a fully functional highscores system that allows you to enter your name and score and then this is then shown in a highscores table. This is done by exporting to an XML file and then parsing the table back out of the file.
I have also implemented FMOD Ex sound API into the game which I'm hoping will make the game have a much richer feel and once I have some appropriate sounds will allow the player to be more immersed in the game. Below is a video showing these new features:
I have also implemented FMOD Ex sound API into the game which I'm hoping will make the game have a much richer feel and once I have some appropriate sounds will allow the player to be more immersed in the game. Below is a video showing these new features:
Gameplay Improvements
The game lacked an edge that would keep the user playing. This was due to the gameplay being far too simplistic and easy. I have implemented some avoidable objects that move across the road. If these are hit then the player loses a life and respawns at the last checkpoint. This can all be seen in the video below:
I am still lacking the visual appeal in the game which I hope will soon be sorted along with some more interesting songs.
