Matthew Kellogg – Capstone Proposal

Tweetable: A platform puzzle game with focus on game-play, visuals, and quick level design.

I’ve always enjoyed making and playing games, and of the games I enjoy, I like platform games and puzzle games the most. For these simple reasons I will make a platform-style puzzle game with a focus on game-play elements, visual appeal, and quick level design.

Some game-play elements I’d like to include:

  • Changing/dynamic gravity
  • Dynamic obstacles and enemies
  • Warps (similar to portals)
  • Boosters/springs
  • Keys and switches

 

Visual appeal:

  • 3D Foreground
  • Parallax backgrounds
  • Particles
  • Dynamic lights and shadows
  • Reflections

 

Methods for keeping the level creation easy:

  • Tileable models (similar to 9-patches but in 3D)
  • Grid layout of level elements
  • Readable text-based file format

 

I will attempt to use Google’s NaCl for this project in order to reach the largest possible audience. Google NaCl or Native Client, is a platform that allows developers to include C/C++ in web pages and execute efficient native code within the browser. I found that the graphics engine OGRE has support for NaCl, and I may try to use that. There are also ports of several other useful tools such as Bullet (a physics engine), Lua (a scripting engine), and many more at naclports.

 

Stretch Goals:

Because NaCl uses OpenGLES 2.0, I should be able to port the resulting code easily to an Android or iPhone app, allowing mobile use.

I would also like to make an online level editor with the ability to post and share user created levels. This would be a hard task as it would involve the use of scripting in order to allow users to specify actions for dynamic objects. This would include allowing users to upload objects, tilable level packs, backgrounds, and other game elements to make it a completely extendable experience.

Here are some basic concept sketches:

platformIdea1 platformIdea2

 

Research from:

NaCl

OGRE NaCl

naclports

Many years of playing video games