Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
In the next two chapters, we will embark on an adventure to create a game based on the classic
game play of Missile Command. Not a knock-off, our game will employ some of the unique
elements of Missile command, while adding our own spin to the contest.
Designing the game
In our game, you play an off-screen defender of a fleet of Navy ships in World War II. Your job is
to shoot down kamikaze airplanes before they reach your fleet. Here is the simple game design
document for our project:
Game name
: Flak Cannon
Game genre
: Defense shooter
Game description
: The player defends a fleet of Naval ships from incoming Kamikaze
attackers.
Player's goal
: Destroy the incoming planes before they hit and destroy the naval ships
the player is defending.
Enemy description
: Enemy planes enter the screen from the top or sides and attempt
to fly as fast as possible to the ships below. Enemy planes are dumb: they fly in straight
lines and do not try to avoid flak. The enemy plan is to overwhelm the player's fleet.
Enemy's goal
: Destroy the naval fleet.
Level end
: A level ends automatically when all planes in that wave have made their
attack runs. The player is awarded bonus points for shells remaining in the arsenal, and
ships are replenished if a player has earned them as a bonus.
Game over conditions
: The game ends when all naval ships are destroyed.
Difficulty ramping
: The game difficulty is ramped through mathematical calculations.
Enemy planes arrive on a timed basis, but their placement and flight path is random.
Bonus conditions
: There are three bonus conditions in the game.
Hitting multiple planes with one flak shot gains the player a bonus (in points)
per plane destroyed.
Shooting a bonus plane that flies from right-left across the screen gains the
player 10 extra flak shots.
The player is awarded an extra ship at 10,000 points.
Game development concepts in this chapter
While the chapters in Part 2 cover the development of different games using one game
framework, certain game development topics are introduced in this chapter that will not be
discussed elsewhere. We have done this both to maximize the amount of topics covered and to
diversify the game engines developed as much as possible. Here is a brief rundown of the game
development concepts we will cover in this chapter.
Adding game assets to the library
Handling library differences in Flash and Flex or Flash Develop
