Mobile Technology: Week 7

Time for another update. This week I managed to do pretty much everything I promised I would last week. Yay!

Features implemented

  • I finally got around to adding audio (see video above)! I’m using music from PlayOnLoop.com (licensed under CC BY 4.0) and sound effects by Subspace Audio (licensed under CC0). I tried to match the audio to the game’s retro style though it is not an exact fit with games like King’s Quest which were my main inspiration. Still, I think it’s alright. Have a listen and let me know what you think!
  • I have been toying with the tutorial I implemented last week as it wasn’t perfect. I found a fatal flaw after having someone playtest it - they just tapped right through it! The tutorial now requires the player to hold their finger on the screen for a set amount of time. That should (hopefully) prevent people from missing the tutorial completely.
Castle Climber Week 7
  • The module’s lecturer advised me that the transition between levels was a bit abrupt and unclear. To remedy this, I created a level transition screen. My inspiration for the screen was the “lives” screen from the original Super Mario Bros. I thought this was a fun way to implement it as it doubles as a tribute to a legendary classic!
  • I’ve been tweaking the procedural generation. Certain levels that it generated were really empty so I decided to limit the amount of “non-hazardous” pieces that can be used in the generation for a level. I also decided to introduce certain pieces a bit later in the game to scale up the difficulty over time (e.g. the archer pieces only start being used in the generation after level 5).
  • I realised that while the player’s speed was set to increase after each level, I was not actually saving the increased speed, resulting in the player’s speed resetting after closing the game. Fixed now!

Features to add over next week

  • As always, I will be looking out for any feedback/bug reports I get from playtesting and working to address that where applicable.
  • I will create an additional piece or two for use in the procedural generation to increase level variety.
  • I will be looking into implementing advertisements into the game!

Thanks for reading and see you next week!

Written on March 9, 2020 | Tagged: Mobile Technology in Computer Games