Enemy with A.I.

Enemy interactions are an important part of any platformer game. They can provide a great representation of the environment and world, simply by their design and actions. However, even if you are set in one location, enemy variation is required or the experience can come off as being boring or poorly planned out. While varying designs can be one solution, enemy behaviour can be just, if not more, effective. In the case of the enemy "Isley" (Named on my end as a tribute to the Batman villainess 'Poison Ivy', real name 'Pamela Isley'), an A.I. function was added to allow "Isley" to shoot projectiles at Nimbus when she enters a predetermined trigger point in relation to "Isley". Acting as a stationary but sentry character, similarly to the Paraná Plants from Super Mario Bros.

- Nintendo. [1985]. Super Mario Bros. [Cartridge] Nintendo Entertainment System. Kyoto: Nintendo Co., Ltd.

Health UX

For the implementation of a health system, a visual representation is required to communicate the mechanics to the player. Traditionally, A 'heart' system, such as The Legend of Zelda [Nintendo. 1986], or 'Bar' system, such as Street Fighter II: The World Warrior [Capcom. 1991] or Pokemon Red & Blue [Game Freak. 1996], is usually used as an indication. The meter we decided to incorporate, uses aspects of both systems. The layout and colour pallet of the 'Bar' format, with the icon display of the 'Heart'. The system was then stylised to incorporate elements of the projects branding.

- Capcom. [1991]. Street Fighter II: The World Warrior. [Arcade Cabinet] CP System. Osaka: Capcom Co., Ltd.

- Game Freak. [1996]. Pokemon Red and Blue. [Cartridge] Game Boy. Kyoto: Nintendo Co., Ltd.

- Nintendo. [1986]. The Legend of Zelda. [Cartridge] Nintendo Entertainment Sysetem. Kyoto: Nintendo Co., Ltd.

- The Game Theorists. [2012] Hit Points and Health Bars, Digressing and Sidequesting. [Online Video] 30th August. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1obB6qeCH1M [Last Accessed: 26/04/2016]

- The Game Theorists. [2013] Evolution of Street Fighter's Interface: DNSQ. [Online Video]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cchlIyO_IU [Last Accessed: 26/04/2016]

Hit Points and Health.

So far while building, all death and battle mechanics have worked on an 'Instant Kill' rate. Once the player hits the enemy, instant death. While this does work and a game can be built around it, it becomes frustrating in the long run. Implementing a health system allows the player to incorporate more strategic methods of play, as well as providing a wider variety to enemies in terms of strength.

The concept of Health points, or Hit points, can be traced back to the veritable Dungeon & Dragons [Arneson & Gygax, 1974]. Created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, the concept of Hit points was created when porting Gygax's earlier Chainmail [Gygax & Perren, 1971]  rules to the then unfinished Dungeon & Dragons. "It would be Arneson's Blackmoor campaign that first tossed out the "either/or" combat matrix of the original game, adding in innovations such as 'hit points' to determine how wounded a character was and the idea of advancing levels and experience points to indicate growing power." [Rausch. 2004].

- Arneson, D & Gygax, G. [1974] Dungeons & Dragons: Rules for Fantastic Medieval Wargames Campaigns Playable with Paper and Pencil and Miniature Figures. TSR, Inc., Wisconsin.

- Gygax, G & Perren, J. [1971] Chainmail: Rules for Medieval Miniatures. TSR, Inc., Wisconsin.

- Rausch, A. [2004] Dave Arneson Interview. August 19th. [Online]. Gamespy. Available from: http://pc.gamespy.com/articles/540/540395p1.html [Last Accessed: 26/04/16]

Tutor Feedback and Notes - 4/4/16

Tutorial Feedback from Doros, on the first Demo:

1. Start page – too dark / black text on dark bg –text is unreadable.
2.  Camera – too far out – needs to be zoomed in more. Needs to be decided before you design/fine tune your level
3. Character animation – Needs more frames / more fluent change between idle / walk / jump
4. Tree animations – interesting effect but maybe it have been better if the tree trunks don’t move and only the upper part of the trees/leaves?
5. Level navigation/jumping. Controls are not accurate enough for this type of level design. The character jumps way to far and the blocks are too small making the level frustratingly difficult to navigate (Maybe its me, but I did not manage to climb the tree – and I did try more than 20 times!) 
6. Character clings on platforms on the way down.
7. I want to see an example of the dialogue and how it will be implemented.
8. Examples of enemies / fight mechanics? How are the enemies going to be moving around the space? Will each type of enemy have a unique moveset?

Notes:

1.  Start Page was an after thought to inform that the art assets were temporary and that all placements were subject to some change.
2. Agreed, The Camera is too far out. This shall be rectified first.
3. Temporary Sprite, All finished sprites are still being drawn.
4. Tree Trunks move by mistake, Product of the sprite being cut afew pixels short. Shall be rectified imediatly.
5. Jump needs to be fine tuned. Will also experiment with stone placement to try and find the best layout.
6. Hadn't thought of that.
7. Dialogue is currently being written, I should recieve it later today. Ready for implementation.
8. Yes, Each type of enemy will have its own style of movement. Mock sprites are being created.