Last Line

Role: Individual university project | Platform: PC | Genre: 2D side-scrolling shooter | Engine: Custom| 2008

This was my first attempt at coding a game and the project brief was to design and build a game using Adobe Flash CS3 and Action script 2.

The game specification:

  • On screen instructions for the first time player.
  • Levels should be different in terms of game play (i.e. change of difficulty to allow for flow)
  • The game should feature some kind of scoring system and/or win/lose scenario.
  • It should be sensitive to the user’s needs (i.e. playable!).

Game Design Process and Documentation

My original idea was to design a game based around Atari’s 1981 Defender.

The game loop was to control a space ship while either:

  1. Either avoiding environmental hazards or oncoming ships
  2. Destroy oncoming alien craft while

Difficulty would ramp up each round by increasing the challenge to the player. An example of this was achieved by moving from static obstacles to moving obstacles (enemies) . Moving from moving obstacles to obstacles that shoot the player and then by adding in static obstacles with enemies that shoot the player.

Here is the original documentation for the game and the prototype for the game is here.