In class this week, we showed our first draft of our final games. My group is Emily, Johnny, and Andy all as artists, and myself stepping up to take on the role of programmer. Our game’s running title is Spidercoaster. It features characters and story from a web series (I think) that Johnny and his friends make. I wasn’t really that interested in watching it. But Johnny had a type of game in mind and he was really enthusiastic so we agreed to make it.
The game is a side-scrolling shooter where you control a man on an old wooden rollercoaster in the mountains. Your character is always moving from the left to the right at breakneck speed, but you can choose to slow him down and move to the left of the screen, and speed up by going to the right of the screen.
All the while this is happening, you make your character shoot at monstrous spiders that rain from the sky. If you make it to the end without being hit, you keep your score and are sent back to the level select screen.
Our initial prototype has had a lot of issues with shooting. You leave his arm behind somewhat comically when you accelerate the roller coaster car. Character control, I’d say is the main hurdle. Once we get that down solid, it will be a much better experience.
Jacob's Game Dev Course Blog 