Gravity: Final Post
Final posting for Gravity’s game Astronautical Arena!
What Didn’t Work
The gravity didn’t initially work as intended, but we were still able to implement it into the game. We had originally planned for the gravity to have a slingshot effect on the projectiles fired from the spacecraft. However, this was more difficult to perfect than we thought, so we had to alter the way we did the gravity. Having a variety of weapons also didn’t work out. It was difficult to find a good balance between the weapons we tested. They proved to either be useless or overpowered, so we went with the weapon that seemed to work best, the bomb. The bomb was fun, strategic, and the most balanced of the options we tested.
What We Learned
Throughout the project we encountered a variety of challenges that caused us to learn a variety of things. We learned about physics and how difficult using these physics, like gravity, can truly be. It became clear to us how the desired game feel may seem obvious to the developers but not to the players. This caused us to learn how challenging tuning the game to fit both the developer’s and player’s expectations is. Also, we learned how implemented core game mechanics such as firing, collisions, and game states. Additionally, we learned how important and useful a code repository, instead of email, can be in organizing and ensuring the latest code gets deployed. Finally, we learned how changing the game to match user feedback is much easier said than done.
What We Changed
Throughout the development of our game we made several adjustments based on user feedback and what we felt was best. The initial change we made was to the movement, as we wanted to give it a more space and low-gravity feel based on the user feedback we received. Next we decided to change our implementation of having “ship upgrades” due to balancing issues, so we decided to not add this to the game. An adjustment in the form of a game addition came about when we added asteroids. We wanted an outer space element that was random, fun, and could be used for strategic plays. Finally, we changed our initial approach on how we implemented planetary objects in the game. Based on the feedback we received from the playtests, we decided to keep the planets’ bouncy feel and enhance their movements from various interactions throughout the game.
Managed To Do
We managed to meet all of our low and medium/realistic target goals, with the exception of two minor changes. The spacecraft move in an appropriate manner that demonstrates an outer space feel. Standard missile shooting is tuned to be at a fair and fun level, as are the bombs we added to the ship’s arsenal. Two players can play the game at the same time using Xbox 360 controllers, which was had trouble implementing at first during the alpha test phase. Our game is polished as well, with all objects have some form of interaction with other objects. The graphics are also intended to be somewhat “pixelated” to represent a classic graphical style of retro games.
Interactive objects are located about the map in the form of planetary objects, asteroids, and worm holes. These not only enhance the outer space feel of the game, but provide both fun and strategic gameplay options. The planetary objects have a gravitational pull on the weapons fired form the spacecraft and the strength of this pull is based on the planet’s size. Asteroids periodically cross the map that the players can choose to dodge or blow up. This creates a random element to the game without causing it to be unbalanced, as it can be used for strategic purposes and isn’t overly difficult to dodge. Finally the wormholes are another fun and strategic option the player can use to make an aggressive attack or slick defensive dodge.
Didn’t Manage To Do
There are two items on our list of targets that we didn’t fully do, however they were by choice. The first is that we didn’t implement “ship upgrades” into the game. We had originally planned for ships to be able to acquire upgrades, like a shield, as they spawned on the map. However, the two upgrades we tested were wither not worth using or so good that they made the game seem one-sided. We didn’t want to invest all of our time into properly tuning this, so we decided to just scrap the idea and work on other more important aspects of the game. Multiple weapons was the other idea we didn’t fully do, although it was done to an extent. We implemented bombs as an alternative weapon and got it to what we and the play testers felt was a fun but fair level. Originally we had intended to implement a trap-like weapon, but we decided to scrap that idea as well.
What We Would Change
If we could do it all over again, the main change we’d make is to remove the walls have the ships appear on the opposite side of the screen that they left. This would ultimately change how the planetary objects, asteroids, etc. interacted in our game. It would modify they fun and strategic feel they have now and require the game design to be altered in a major way. Additionally, we’d probably begin working on the gravitational pull of the planets the first week of the project instead of waiting until the second. It caused us to not be able to have a slingshot like effect of the gravity, but rather a slight curving. Ultimately though we are all very pleased with our game and hope everyone that played it found it as equally enjoyable!
Presentation Link: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Xf9Tqh5CvAJAdBid4Fl1ki4TnmuEaIakQs1e56AxWds/edit#slide=id.p
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