Aspects of Play
Run Caveman Run
Page 3
Controls for the game so far,
Mouse - select (demo allows you to roll over trackpad to gain score)
Up - Jump
Future controls
Down - Duck
Right - Swing Club
Left - Swing Club upwards
Week 14
In this week I focused mainly of finalizing my document along with optimizing the game so it runs smoother. I removed all the traces as after a minute or so of tracing the incrementing variables it started to really show in the final swf. During the optimization process I managed to remove about 25000 curves, with the optimize tool, from various movieclips and scenery, the main cut down was on the trees in the background.
I also encountered a problem with the log, when the caveman falls over it I wanted it to be stomped into the ground by the dinosaur however there was a problem where I think two variables where causing a conflict, so for the time being I decided to leave this out and work on providing a basic design of how the game would work.
I had to get all my work together to put on the CD for hand in however there was still a few components I wish I had a bit more time to add. I left the little track pad style icon in the final thing to allow the tester to gain score without being sat waiting for the score to build up.
Things I would have added:
Sound was an important element however I could not find the time to add this with all the deadlines from all my projects closing in.
Other obstacles that spawn at random intervals of 5 - 20 seconds. This would be branches from trees and other logs aswell things such as lava balls and lightning.
Finished off other animations and weapons.
Week 13
I encountered a problem with the health and the log, when the log went to damage the dinosaur I set it to deal 0.2 damage every frame, the contact lasted about 1 second. (0.2 x 30 = 6 (0.2 damage x frames per second)) however, this would sometimes vary and end up ending with 5.8 or 6.2 and whilst I tried using a math.round function it seemed to still trace back to me a decimal. In the end I decided to change this to 1 and edit the damage of everything else.
I also sped up the x speed of the log so that it moved faster, this made sure the caveman could jump over it. The game was made quite hard as the player had to time the jump perfectly, speeding up the log made sure the players reaction times where slightly faster however it made it easier to jump over and the character didn't catch the edge of the log to make him fall.
I also added an alert that flies in telling you to jump. This would change for each object, if it is a boulder then it will come up telling the player to smash. This is so they know which button to press.
I started to touch up on some of the animation that looked like it needed a bit of tweaking.
During this week I also started to look into webcams in flash as I was tempted to develop it so that the player could jump and when they hit the top of the screen it causes the character on screen to jump. However I focused mainly on the original idea and thought that this could be used in another project in which I would have more time.
Week 12
I added a stone throwing animation which deals minor damage to the enemy. The caveman throws this up at the dinosaurs eye, and when the damage is dealt, the dinosaur blinks his eye.
I also attempted to animate the dinosaur running, this was difficult and even though it looks a little bit jerky I tried to make it look like his jaw was snapping as though he was hungry. To do this I had to break apart the dinosaur and put each of his body parts into it's own movieclips.
I animated the health and put it on a timeline, this alllowed me to set an incrementing variable to play the frame number equal to the variable.
Week 11
I spent quite a long time animating a fall for the caveman, I added little details like smoke coming up when he hits the ground, I also spent a long time lining it up with the log which he will fall over so he doesnt go through it.
I also remade the background so it is a night sky. I think this looks slightly better. I am also considering adding a moon in the sky, possibly with a face.
Added some stars and a planet that flies past after about a minute, just to try bring it to life and make it seem less like the background is repeating.
Also added a really basic health system for now, when you press the ouch button his health decreases, I used the same kind of system Kingdom Hearts 2 uses as mentioned in my research.
I also added some trees to get rid of the nasty join in the scenery.
Added some health for the dinosaur. I decided to shape his like a D and the caveman's like a C, it makes the dinosaurs health quite a bit higher, it also takes longer to kill him. The dinosaur will have more than twenty times the health of the caveman. In the demo I am creating it will only be the dinosaur but in future versions it would change to bigger dinosaurs and maybe even more dinosaurs that chase you. I would also consider Pterodactyls and flying dinosaurs or birds that want you because you stole there egg or something.
At the start of each level I want a little cutscene as to why the caveman is getting into trouble, and for the demo I just wanted a basic one of him starting a fire with some fellow cavemen which attracts the dinosaur. This was used in the Worms Games where they used to put a funny little scene in before you went to battle. I would like this but make it into a story, as the caveman looks quite comical and I would like to use that to an advantage.
Storyboard of the first scene used for my Creative Thinking project.
Zoom in and use the hand tool to move around.