I'm also going into my final week at my co-op placement at Enflick, which was an absolute blast. It's been such a huge boon working there on iPhone-related software, and then being able to apply that knowledge to my own gamedev endeavors. [smile]
Like I said, lots of progress has been made over the last month. I dare say that it actually looks and (sort of) feels like a game at this point, which is a wonderful sensation to behold after holding more than a bit of doubt about whether I was going to end up finishing this project. [grin]
Voila, a miniature flood of screenshots:
First on the list was setting up an actual terrain-like backdrop and drawing the tracks that the player's artillery contraption was to live on. The wonky "just for testing" particle effects are still wildy going on in the background.
I really wanted to start moving the darned player at this point. Dean drew me a pretty mortar/gun enplacement sort of device, so it was just a matter of lining up the sprite with the fixed track and drawing it. The left and right movement buttons were the second attempt at a movement system. The first idea was to use the iPhone's built-in accelerometer and have the player tilt the device left and right. I never actually ended up trying it yet, but I already loathe all of the other iPhone games that use the tilting mechanic and find it awkward and the controls very course. Not to mention any accelerometer-based control would make the game rather challenging to play in the car or especially on the subway. [grin]
The controls still felt awkward, so I spaced out the arrows a little. A simple button for charging up your shots was added on the right-hand side, which meant I was clearly angling for a "hold the phone sideways and have a thumb on either side" set of controls. From what I've seen this is pretty standard and it's also the orientation and hand positioning that feels most natural if the player intends to have any sort of fine degree of control.
Boom! Charging shots, firing explosive shells, explosion particle effects, and spurts of gory blood were all implemented in one fell swoop. This is kind of fun!
Another go at the control scheme. I really like this one, so I polished it up and made some prettier buttons for them, with a bit of outside help on the fire icon. The 'movement strip' on the right side sets the player's absolute position on the tracks (on a 1/2 scale), which makes it really easy to simple keep a thumb on the strip and just slide it back and forth to move the player where you'd like. I'm totally sold on this control style and haven't been able to conjure anything more intuitive.
The next challenge I wanted to address was figuring out how to indicate the current shot's charge to the player. A bar along the top? No, that'd occlude enemies. So would a bar along the left or right side. And there's no room along the bottom.
In the original Gundown game, the player would have a visible tracer beam extending from the artillery contraption for the first few levels, to get a feel for how long of a charge corresponds to how far of a firing distance. The tracer would vanish after level four or five, since I found that it made the game a little too easy to aim. I equate this to the similar tracer effect in Puzzle Bobble/Bust-a-Move.
I'm still undecided whether I want to just keep the tracer mechanic in place of a more formal charge bar, or just use it for the first few levels as before. I *really* don't know where to place a darned charge bar. Ideas are quite welcome. [grin]
Oh, and just for visual goodness, the tracer dot stays where you left it after you fire your shot, growing and fading out as the shell strikes it and explodes. Looks purty.
Next on the list is finishing the base UI, which includes finding a creative spot for the health bar and earned-cash counter. Beyond that? Lots and lots of enemies, a shop for upgrading your artillery contraption, and plenty of levels. Did I mention lots of enemies?
