Story
It
was a
pleasant Monday morning. Alex, Ryan, Dan and Sid were getting
ready for
their first day at Grad School. As they cycled towards college,
the sky
suddenly filled up with black clouds and a thunderstorm ensued. A
huge
lightning bolt struck the ground in front of them, creating a vortex
that
sucked the four brothers in….
The
brothers now find themselves on another planet, Derga. They are imprisoned by the ruler of the world, Derg
(who named
the planet after himself). He offers a way back – but for only
one.
To decide who will go, he sets up a tournament where the four brothers
must
fight each other…
Only one
will emerge victorious and earn his way back home…
Description
Friendly
Fire is a multiplayer platformer/shooter. Up to four 'friends'
fight it out on an alien planet.
The last man
standing is the winner. There are
several power-ups/ weapons that spawn at random places on the arena.
The aim was to make a fast-paced game that is easy to pick up and
play.
Grenade Tossing
This game was created for the 2D Graphics Programming course and I was in
a group of four. Our team was aptly called "Team 4".
Development Environment
The was developed from scratch in C++ using Direct 9.0c on the Windows XP platform.
Gameplay
The game contains
several features that adds to gameplay variety:
- Weapons: Each player will
start with
the default machine gun. In addition, there are a variety of
secondary weapons, all with unique abilities. All weapons will be
dropped randomly from the top of the screen. The weapons included
are Shotgun, Rail Gun, Pistol, Laser and a Guided Rocket.
- Grenades: There are two
types- a regular grenade with a blast radius and a concussion grenade which
throws the player off balance. There are a limited number of
grenades that a player can hold at any one time.
- Platforms: There are multiple
platforms at different height levels in the map to give players a more
dynamic combat experience. Some platforms allow players to jump
or fall through them.
- Destructible Obstacles: There
are obstacles that
players can use as cover.
- Power-ups: A variety of
power-ups,
both positive and negative, are available to give the player an
advantage/disadvantage over their opponent. These power-ups are
dropped randomly from the sky and held within a crate until it hits the
ground. These powerups included Sheid, Extra grenades, Health and a
Rapid Fire Rate. The negative powerups include : Health Reduction and a Pistol
- Dynamic
Camera: The camera zooms in and out to give the
optimal view of players at all times.
One player protected by a sheild, while
the other burns in the Lava below
Work Done
I was responsible for the following tasks in the game
- Rendering framework: Created a 2D rendering engine in
DirectX9.0c
- Input Manager: Support for both Keyboad and Gamepads
- Sound Manager: Used XACT to manage background music
and
sound effects
- Weapons: Created the initial bullet framework and
coded the
logic for the Guided Missile.
- HUD Manager: Designed and implemented the HUD.
- Assets: Created assets for the HUD and Powerups
- Camera Framework: Assisted in creating the camera to
zoom
in and out dynamically.
Conclusion / Improvements needed
This was my first game project
and I thoroughly enjoyed the time
I spent working on it. The game was fun to play and I really like the
'retro look' we gave it.
However, there are still
a few things that I would have done to
improve the game. We were unable to procure an artist to create
original art assets for our game, so we had to use Metal Slug sprites
for our characters I woud have also liked to add a Particle
System for better special effects, especially for the lava pit below. Also our Sprite Animation System was not completed, hence one can see several flickers and wrong animations from time to time. Finally,the game did lack some final 'polish'. Though it was made in 10 weeks, the effective time was less than that considering the two other courses I was taking during the same quarter.
I am currently working on
another Game for the 3D Graphics Programming
course and hopefully I will improve on the skills I have learnt here.
Download
Design Document
Downlaod Game Manual
