Play Boom!

The Idea

The Idea for this game was straight forward: Make the player feel like they control part of the fireworks show. After I started building it, I found that it felt a bit like fruit ninja or duck hunt.

What went right

The game came together well. I was able to use scripts from previous projects (such as the timed particle emitters) which made things much easier. The eagle was added after the fireworks as a way to shake up the gameplay and provide some comedic relief. This addition was met with applause.

What went wrong

Again, scoping issues. Originally I wanted to have several different colored fireworks instead of just red. Because I ran out of time I wasn’t able to finish it up. I imagine it would be pretty easy to update after a while if I ever go back to it. Balancing also seems to be an issue given that I’ve had people say the rockets are a bit too fast.

What I learned

Quaternion rotation and force was a little difficult to remember. Fortunately, there are quite a few well made tutorials out there and I was able to quickly refresh myself on the basics.

I need to find a way to add balance to my games. The game a week structure is great for getting your coding chops up and allows you to explore a lot of ideas, but it doesn’t give you a lot of depth. In the future, I’d be very interested in doing a depth Jam, as described by Chris Hecker. Good thing is, whenever I do get to focus on balance I’ll have plenty of ideas to explore.