Week 4: Preview

So, week 3 is finished.  Since it has a networking component, I'm waiting to test it out with another developer before writing up a report on it (and I will have quite a bit to write about it).  But, I wanted to go ahead and give a preview for week 4!  I will be testing out some game development tools in the coming weeks to get a sense of the tools and what operations I should employ in my own engine.  This week, I'll be using GameMaker Studio (https://www.yoyogames.com/studio).  I haven't really taken this seriously in the past, but I've decided to give it another shot as I've heard it's become a serious contender for professional indie game devs writing 2D games.  That, and there was an announcement they were partnering with Sony on the PS4 (https://www.yoyogames.com/news/210).  So far I've been using it for a few days, and I really like it for its fast prototyping capabilities.

This week will be a space versus shooter.  The components of the game will feature a modified handicap system which will reward players with powerups if they die.  It will punish players by taking away a powerup if they get a kill.  Kills with lower power ups score more points, kills with higher powerups score less points.  The game is a two player multiplayer game, much like the clown game, where each side has a ship and will shoot across the board to kill the other player.  The game will be a time limit long, and the player with the most points at the end of the time limit is the winner.  I will be using Gamemaker this time to get a feel for the tool and see how easy it is to put together a prototype.