Suit of Armor

Week 1:

Fight as a ghost within a suit of armor to kill the king and regain your body in this 2D fantasy action adventure. 

Game loop: Pick up armor -> Get hit by enemy -> armor breaks/ gets knocked off -> find new armor/ pick up lost piece of armor

The player plays as a ghost who has to pick up armor in order to defend itself against enemies. Enemies can attack different parts of your character, by doing that, your armor loses durability and can either break or get knocked off. The player will have different hitboxes based on where their armor is. What does this mean? Unlike other games where a player has one large hitbox, the player has three. The benefit of having multiple hitboxes is when a player has armor in one hitbox but not another, the player will try to get hit in an armored spot rather than an unarmored one. This game has a similar atmosphere to Hollow Knight and Dead Cells due to its 2D art style and fighting mechanics

What question do we want to answer with this prototype?

How does the player’s style of play change with the hitbox being sectioned on the player's character?

How will the prototype answer this question?

We will build one to three levels where the player collects armor and encounters enemies that launch projectiles or attack different regions of the player’s hitbox.

What do you (yourself) plan on accomplishing this first week?

Logan

• Make sprites for character and level 

Week 2:

What did you accomplish last week? Did these milestones -- whether or not you succeeded in your initial goals -- change your plan for your demo? If so, how?

Last week I made a simple sprite sheet with the character's looks. Through Payton (my partner) and I working on this, and looking at the sprites and colliders they made, we got a better understanding of how we want our game mechanics to work. A lot of the gameplay will involve the player determining where enemies should hit them. So, we have gotten a better idea of how we can make players maneuver themselves.

What do you plan on accomplishing this second week?

For the second week, I will be working on scripting the enemy projectiles that can lock onto a player's collider.  And at the beginning of next week, Payton and I are sitting down to design the level.

Final Reflection:

Is it representative of the core loop you wanted?

Yes, we were able to achieve our core game loop of Pick up armor -> Get hit by enemy -> armor breaks/ gets knocked off -> find new armor/ pick up lost piece of armor. To do this, we placed pieces of armor into the scene as well as enemies. The player has to pick up the armor pieces while avoiding enemies. By picking up the pieces of armor, the player is protected in certain areas. If the player gets hit in an unprotected area, then they take damage to their total health (not the armor's health). Once a piece of armor breaks, the player will have to either search for a new piece or make sure not to get hit in their unprotected areas.

Did it give you an answer to the question you posed, and if so, what is the answer?

The question was answered. It was determined that the player did not play differently based on whether or not they had certain armor pieces. In the end, the playtester just did not want to get hit. What resonated with the observers of the game was the armor-throwing feature and the possible avenues the game could go down with that feature. 

How would you change it, if at all?

If we were to change anything about this, I think we would add different variety in the types of armor and have them affect the player. For example, if the player picked up a large piece of heavy armor, they would be slowed down a bit. Additionally, if a player picked up boots with wings on them, they would be able to double jump. Adding this would add variety to the game and change up how players approach challenging situations. 

Where would you take the idea next?

Going forward, we would add the new armor (as stated above) and flesh out the level design by adding more levels and polishing them up. Additionally, we wanted to add more enemies to the game, so we would love to add additional enemies with unique attack patterns that can target different armor pieces on the player. We could even have enemies target specific parts of the player that are not protected. 

Game Description:

This is a 2D platformer where you can pick up armor to protect separate parts of your body from damage. Have fun dodging enemies and protecting your vitals. Use the 'a' and 'd' keys to move left and right, and space is for jump. Press 'j' to select your helmet, 'k' to select your chest plate, and 'l' to select your boots. Then throw with the 'o' button. It will kill any enemy it hits but your armor will be destroyed as well.