Project Title: Space War Jam
Development: C# / XNA
My Role: Network Programmer
Programmers: Jake Ellenberg, Evan Schipellite
This project actually represents two games, one being an initial prototype version, and the other being the final result. During a 2-3 hour work session, Jake and I were tasked as with recreating the entirety of Space War. This would require functioning menus, projectiles, gravity, and controls. Due to the amount of detail required, the project was more of an exploration into the process of rapidly prototyping as much as possible in a limited time frame.
The initial prototype we created was designed as a direct representation of the theme of Space War, and therefore took place with a scrolling star background. During the limited amount of time we had to work, Jake managed to create the basis for movement, controls, health, and projectiles. On the other hand, I worked on tying it all together with the network systems, lobbies, start and end screens, as well as the small amount of assets that would be required to keep track of players.
Following this exploration, we then were able to implement all required mechanics while further improving the rough systems we implemented earlier. In the final version, we changed the theme to a quicksand pit, replaced the ships with tourists, and further exchanged the projectiles with cameras. While the theme may have changed, the overall mechanics did not.
Players move around in a similar 'floating' style as is found in Space War, and all active objects on the screen can maneuver out of the screen bounds to wind up on the other side. At the start of each level, players can choose whether or not to add the sand pit (black hole) which constantly applies an inward force.
If players collide with the sand pit, they immediately lose the round. There is also some amount of collision responses for interaction between players, although we attempted to limit its complexity due to the fact that we were still learning and improving our understanding of programming network games.
