Mission Ship Repair
About the project
Using provided documentation and assets, I developed a game inspired by the on the classic Dig-Dug game franchise by Namco. Game was programmed in Actionscript 3 and utilized a slightly modified Pixel Blitz game engine. The player’s goal was to dig into the group and find a buried space ship piece to repair his ship. While doing so, the player had to negotiate and overcome enemies that were seeking to “exhaust” the player in his efforts.
Key features for the game’s implementation include:
- Unique grid system that the player and enemies are allowed to move on. There’s a buffer present in between each horizontal row and each vertical row. This allows the player and enemies to move in a structured fashion without being able to freely carve out the entire space. This result is the ability for the player to, like the original Dig-Dug, carve out a network of tunnels that are used a game design mechanic to provide the player with escape routes and time to evade pursuing enemy monsters.
- Pathfinding and AI – Developed system that respects the player’s control and dictation of the movable space in the game. The enemy monsters are, for the large part of the game, only allowed to move within the network of tunnels the player has created. The enemies were programmed with a degree of “aggresiveness” and a “lack of patience” that encouraged them to reassess their route. After certain intervals, the enemies sped up, providing a heightened sense of urgency for the player to plan
