Blog 2: Summer Game Ideas Part 2

Two weeks ago I talked about the inspiration I drew from watching SGDQ. Now I want to talk about the android games I've been trying out, and the new ideas I've had thanks to them. I was mainly inspired by Pokemon Go to do this, since I'm not usually interested in phone games. I'll also rate them out of 5 at the same time.

Monster Sweeperz 5/5 (side scrolling shooter): This has been my favorite game from the Google Play store. Like almost every other android game, it features an autoplay button. But unlike other games, the autoplay is treated like a gameplay feature rather than just an anti-grinding mechanic. The most useful aspect of it is that automatic movement is better at avoiding projectiles than the player, which works even better due to the fact that not every projectile is meant to be avoided and must be destroyed or you take damage anyway. This turns knowing when to take your fingers off the screen into a strategic element. I'm not sure if I got a lot of design ideas from it though, as it is a really solid game but doesn't do anything all that different from other android games, just improves on already popular gameplay features.

Pokemon Go 3/5 (I don't know): It's a barebones game, whose mechanic isn't as unique as everyone seems to think. The best thing I guess would be the explorative element, which I would probably enjoy more if I didn't live in such an empty town. And of course the reason it's so popular is because of the fact that it's Pokemon, the most popular video game series in history. I wonder if parents out there recognize Mario, Mickey Mouse, or Pikachu faster.

Hit 5/5 (Top-down Action Game): My second favorite game. I don't normally like top-down beat-em-ups, but Hit's gameplay, graphics, and abundant features make it very worth playing. I'd like to try making a game like this one some time using Evanlily characters. It'd be relatively quick and easy compared to making a metroidvania, 3D platformer, or platform fighter. Another idea I like is the "instant complete pass" that lets you immediately complete a level you've already beaten. It helps save on the grinding, and they're not too rare or too common.

Delight Games Full Library (Pick your own adventure story) 4/5: Ironic that my three favorite games from the android store are from genres that I normally hate playing. The stories are pretty good, though I've only played 4 chapters total of the Wizard, Witch, Dragon stories, and haven't finished any of them fully. I'm enjoying it though, so I wanted to recommend them anyway.
I also felt a bit of inspiration from them, but not really game design inspiration. I don't plan to make any choose your own adventure games, but I have been writing Evanlily's story lately. I hope to be able to share that story in novel format during future blog posts. Years ago I had planned the story out as a comic series, but when I started learning how to script for games I decided to concentrate on this instead.

Soul Seeker (Top-down Action Game) 3/5: This is the kind of game I would like to make myself. The character designs are pretty good, the graphics are nice, and there's a crapload of content. The biggest drawback is how repetitive it is, as the levels are just the exact same thing over and over again regardless of how far you get into the game. There's also a risk of getting a lot of lag due to all the monsters that can appear on screen at once. What's more the gameplay is not very involving, you might as well just always have auto on. It could have been fixed easily just by including any sort of defensive option, like the dodge button that every other game in this genre has. One thing I do really like though is the fact that you get rewarded every time you fully level up one of your characters. Playing it has pushed me away from wanting to make a top-down action game with a "crew," and instead makes me to want to make something more like Hit that focuses on one character at a time. Not that I have any current plans to do either, I'm trying to focus on Crown.

Minimon (Top-down Action Game) 2/5: Minimon is very similar to Soul Seeker but with worse graphics, less playable characters, and slightly better gameplay. Like Soul Seeker, I really wanted to like this game. The graphics and repetitiveness are the only things pushing me back. The character designs were my main draw, they're all pretty attractive and the girls are thick as fuck which I love. The gameplay also doesn't lag like Soul Seeker, but it's still repetitive. There are a lot of levels in each world, but they all look the same. And the game only ever gives you baby monsters, expecting you to put in hours of work to evolve them into the better ones. I just got bored, but at least there's a dodge button.

Digimon Heroes (Matching Card Game) 4/5: This game has the exact opposite problem as Minimon. While Minimon gives you utter shit, and expects you to work like a bitch to evolve it into good shit, Digimon gives you great shit early game. But that's still a problem. Why should I be expected to evolve the Guilmon I just unlocked through lottery, when I already have a Gallatmon Crimson mode? There's no balance to the Digimon you can get. In the early levels you can unlock a Patamon, and in the next world you'll be unlocking MagnaAngemon before you ever get to gather the evolution materials to get regular Angemon (Which you already unlocked from another level). Evolution is worthless and difficult, but I still enjoyed the gameplay. Once you get the hang of it, it's a very easy but very fun game to play. I'd like to try making a card game some time, but it's not a high priority and probably wouldn't be a matching game.

Honorable mentions: I don't care enough to write full reviews about these games.

Pocket Mortys: It's good, but I'm not a fan of RPGs.
Sonic Boom Dash: It's just a boring runner. I don't have a real opinion on the genre, I've enjoyed runners before. There's nothing special about it, it's really just a time waster.
Sonic Runners: Just like the game above, but better and more fun. Unfortunately all support for this game will have ended by the time I publish this review. Hopefully there's a sequel, and they fix the lag.
Plague Inc: It's alright. It can be fun, but I don't think I will be playing it very much. Maybe the fact that I only played the free version just left a sour taste.
Traffic Rider: It's fun at first, but I hate how much it makes you grind.

Scripting 4: AI: VeluciDrake

Speeddrake_AI is the script used to control VeluciDrake.

This is an overview of the Speeddrake_AI Script.

The string "personality" greatly controls the velocidrake's actions, colored orange.

Coward: Will run away when the player is standing too close.

Savage: Will attack the player from any distance.

Guard: Will not leave past a specific zone.

Persist: Will follow the player relentlessly.

Agile: Will jump over and avoid projectiles.

VOID Start()  Reads and stores component variables.

VOID OnEnable()  Resets AI states

VOID Update()  Controls the meat of the AI.

• Sets basic variables
• Checks distance from player.
• Most vDrakes become inactive if too far away.
• Persist vDrakes will instead chase after the player.
• Guard vDrakes will check the distance from the guardzone instead of itself.
• Agile vDrakes check around themselves for incoming projectiles, and will jump into the air if there are any incoming threats. If the threat is too high, they will instead attempt to drop lower to the ground.
• Basic functions are then called. There are 4 wall checking variables, to test whether or not the vDrake is on a wall.
• The wallhitx variables check for standing on walls.
• The wallcheckx variables check the distance to the hit wall, and positions the vDrake appropriately.
• The floor underneath the vDrake is then checked. If in the air, and not on a wall, the vDrake will be affected by gravity.
• Now the script checks to ensure the player is within the vDrake's attack field, and their position. 
• Guard vDrakes at this point check their distance to their guard point, and Retreat if too far away.
• The following action is randomized by a variable between 0 and 5.
• Climb will jump backwards to go up a wall.
• Fall will jump down from the wall, or move closer to the player.
• Attack will tackle the player, landing on the other side.
• Debugging variables are checked last.

VOID wallChecknFace()  Checks for walls, and quickly sets the vDrake's position and facing direction based on the results.

 VOID circleCheck(LayerMask layerFloor, Vector2 chaseSpotT, LayerMask layerWall, Vector2 chaseMove) Creates a circle that moves and grows.

 VOID jumpToPoint(Vector2 jumpPoint, int jumpspd, float xspd, bool attackDash) rapidly moves the vDrake towards the desired point, found by circleCheck().

  VOID projectCheck() If the vDrake is agile, constantly checks for nearby projectiles through a circlecast.

  VOID actionMove (string currAct) Performs the desired action. 

 The string "currAct" controls the vDrake's action, colored red.

• Attack: Will find a location behind the player, and tackle towards that spot.
• If Savage the distance to be checked increases.
• If Safe and Guard the vDrake instead retreats.
• If Safe and isn't guard the vDrake instead attempt to Attack Safe.
• Attack Safe: Will find a location between the vDrake and player, just to get closer.
• Climb: Looks behind itself to find a wall that can be jumped on. This action happens quickly, and there is no prepping animation.
• Fall: Similar to Climb, but looks instead to the front for a floor to land on.
• RunAway: Finds any location behind the vDrake, and falls back.
• If running away Fast, will increase the bubble's speed and decrease the prep time.
• Retreat: Will jump back towards their guard location, used by Guarders.
• After everything is checked, the variable curruentAction is reset to be blank.

  VOID OnTriggerStay2D(Collider2D other) Checks if colliding with the player.

If colliding with the player and tackling, the player will be damaged.

Scripting 3: AI: Fansher_AI

Fansher_AI is the script used to control Fanshers.
This is an overview of the Fansher_AI Script.

VOID Start()  Meant to be used only once to mark initial variables.

guardlock: records the initial position. Used for guardian fanshers who only patrol the area around their spawn point.
body: The rigidbody2D attached to the fansher, there isn't one by default.
truemaxspeed: Records the initial maxspeed.
shotref: Provides a link to the Shooter_AI script.
anim: Links to the object's animator component.
zpos: The z position, used to decide the enemy's depth.
sizer: The enemy's scale. Is set to the enemy's initial x scale

VOID Update() The meat of the script. 

• Basic info is first retrieved. Para and hpRef are set to read the para, enemyHP, hurt, and canBeControlled are set based on the counterpart variables within the Enemy_Health script.

• Acceleration is set to (1+Mathf.Abs(hspeed)*baseaccel)/3. So the fansher's speed increases at a slower rate the faster it moves.

After this, the four wants(direction) variables are read, and movement is decided based on their values. Fspeed (vertical) always adds double acceleration. Hspeed (horizontal) adds x1, or x3 if the Fansher is flying towards the opposite direction at the time.
Fspeed and Hspeed are stopped separately through lerping to 0 by 0.95f.
Final movements are set through:

transform.Translate(Vector2.right * truemaxspeed/2 * 0.01f * 100 * Time.deltaTime);
transform.Translate(Vector3.up * fspeed * truemaxspeed/2 * Time.deltaTime);

• A circlecast is used to check the distance between the enemy and player. If the player exits the circle's radius, the enemy object becomes inactive.

• Another circlecast is used to check if the player is within the Fansher's line of sight. 

• A raycast is used to ensure the Fansher avoids being too close to water.

• If the player is within the Fansher's line of site, the Fansher will call ProjectChoose() randomly based on Random.Range(0, bulletchance).

• Finally, the debugging variable "wantsToMove" is checked, and the AI variables are set according to the debug commands.

IEnumerator ProjectChoose() The meat of the script. 

• The shot prepping animation is set to let the player know the fansher is about to fire. 

• hspeed and fspeed are both multiplied by 0.5f to slow down the fansher.

• body.velocity is set to vector2.zero.

• Waits for a customizable amount of time "bulletTossWait." 

• Activates shotRef.ProjectChoose(); on the Shooter_AI script.