WEEK12:FIRE!

Game Panoramica & History

This week I started off by making a tank game by creating a vehicle that was controlled by changing the speed of individual tracks. I’m a really big fan of games like Starwars Podracer and have been playing a lot of Valkyria Chronicles so figured that duel analogue tank controls would be fun.

Turns out that in 2D it’s rubbish. I got it in and working without much trouble but it was difficult and confusing to control. I still think in 3D it would be neat, but will probably be a while before I can test that. After switching it back to more conditional controls, and adding a machine gun, and so on, I just didn’t want to make another game with shooting / killing enemies.

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems

I really enjoyed making the train game and think there is some merit to more toy-like digital experiences, so I retrofitted it into a fire fighting game. The idea was a firetruck version of Crazy Taxi, where you race around the city putting out blazes. There is no fail state at the moment although you could easily make it more of a game by adding time limits, civilians to save etc.

In my mind the perfect version would be in 3D, where a parent could play with their kid, one driving, one on the hose. You could get called out to save cats in trees, put ladders up to windows and so on. I’m quite enjoying making more traditional, kid friendly prototypes.

Release & Industry Impact

Might have my first break next week since it’s Easter / Ching Ming and we have friends in town.