Ok so here I have tried to put together a level that uses the pushing function that I was playing with previously.

The objective is to get the block from its starting point to the high platform at the top of the page. To add a little bit of a challenge I have added an enemy that patrols the middle section of the level. He will continuously move left and right. I decided to have him move like this as I felt it would pose more of a challenge rather than having him chase the player. If the player pushes the block into the middle section while the enemy is still there he will eat the block and the player will have to start over. To remove the enemy the player has to jump on its head. Once removed the player can push the block into the middle section where the block will land upon a platform which can be raised. The player must pull a switch that will activate the platform that will lift the block to the top of the page where the level can be completed.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

When I tested this level it became clear that it was far too complex and there were too many factors that could go wrong when played on the pages of the sketch book.

Currently my code for detecting edges will only stop the character falling through from above. This means that it is possible to jump up through a platform if you are below it. It also means that the player is able to walk through a wall without being stopped. This makes the push block game very difficult to design a level around because if the block falls into a ditch it can be pushed through a wall without stopping. To get around this I created a number of hidden platforms inside of flash that the player won’t see but will stop the block from being pushed where it’s not supposed to go.

The trouble is that by setting up hidden walls in this way, it means that it is difficult for players to customize the levels as they cannot position the hidden walls themselves.

Unfortunately I have had to scrap this level and try to rework the box level idea so that it works better with the rest of the project.

Should I use sound effects?

I’ve recently been looking back at some more of the early platform games like Mario and sonic. At the end of many of the levels there is a boss encounter. These are events in a game where you fight an enemy that is stronger and has different abilities to many of the enemies you would have come across up to this point.

Below is a boss fight from the Megadrive version of Sonic

The objective is to hit the boss while avoiding it’s attacks until it is eventually defeated. The set up is simple but it makes for a fun challenge and mixes up the gameplay. I decided that I would try and create a similar type of battle as one of the levels for my game.

The challenge in my game is to defeat the cloud man by jumping on him until he eventually is defeated. He will move backwards and forwards continuously throwing bombs which slowly create a fire. If the fire touches the player they will take damage, if they are damaged to much the game will be over.
I liked the idea of the fire because when it is projected on to the page it looks like it is your own level that is being destroyed. In the video below you can see the level I made from a previous post as it slowly catches a light.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Little Big Planet

Taking inspiration from Little Big Planet I thought it would be nice to have a selection of pre-made drawings which the player can position on the page to make their level.

I drew out a couple of buildings and trees on to some cardboard and then cut around them to form individual pieces. I then added some blue tac to the back of each of them so they would stay in place when laid on the page.

Cutout Drawings for Level

I took the items that I had cut out and positioned them on my sketch book to form a level.

The Cut-out objects in the Sketchbook

Character Projected on the Level

I was pleased with the result and think that this is a great way for people to be able to make up quick levels if they don’t want to draw their own. It also quite fun to just design your own level like this and almost feels like a game itself.

This is a cool XBox Live Arcade community game called Johnny Platform’s Biscuit Romp. It cought my eye because it’s levels are all disigned around a single screen.

As my games will be played on single pages of my sketchbook hopefully this will help me come up with some ideas for my own levels.

I came up with a design for an enemy character today. Again I’ve tried to keep it nice and simple, keeping the sketchy look. I also kept the animation simple. I think it works well with the tone and feel of the other characters I have created so far

[kml_flashembed movie="http://zikayn.com/fmp/wp-content/uploads/enemydesign.swf" height="500" width="500" /]

I had been planning on trying to design a level that included platforms that would rise up and down. I built some example levels to see how they worked when projected but I soon ran into problems. I found that there is a slight delay on the movement when the platform is projected onto the sketchbook which means that the character lags behind the rising platform so he doesn’t stand upon it properly. It didn’t look very good and ran poorly so I decided to scrap the idea before taking it any further.

Today I was trying to think up some other types of game play that I could include in my game. I came up with the idea of having the player have to push a block from one location on the page to another. The challenge is working out how to get the block through the page.

I managed to get the code functioning so that the blocks can be moved around the page whenever the character pushes against it. I also animated the character so that he looks as though he is pushing against the block when he touches it. I added a jump animation as well.

I still need to tighten up a few bits for when it is used in the actual game, but you can get the idea of how it’ going to work in the video below.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://zikayn.com/fmp/wp-content/uploads/push_animation.swf" height="500" width="500" /]

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

The last few days I’ve been working on my game some more.

I want to try out making a variety of different games that can be played on the pages of the sketch book. I currently have one simple game functioning where the player has to simply collect an object that is projected on the page. The challenge is to see how many items the player can collect in a set period of time. So they are battling against the clock.

I decided that I would also like to have a game that included enemies that would chase the player while they move around the platforms. So I have been working on building some enemy types. I looked back at Mario and some of the other early platform games and took a look at the enemy types. Many of the enemies are mindless and just move around the levels without taking notice of the player, they are just there as a moving obstacle that the player must avoid.

They also have the types that will chase after the player. They lack certain abilities however, such as being able to jump. This gives the player an advantage over the enemy but the player is required to think through their actions a bit more as the enemy will chase them while they are within reach.

I have currently made two enemy types for my game. One will chase the character around on the floor, moving left and right after the player, the other will constantly jump making it harder for the player to avoid them.

I haven’t designed the look of them properly yet, nor is there a consequence if the player comes into contact with them. At the moment they just have a place holder graphic. But you can see how they will act when in the game.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

An idea for a game type that I had was to have doorways that would teleport you to different parts of the page. I managed to get these functioning properly but couldn’t come up with any games that really took advantage of this ability so I decided to scrap it