Getting right down to the content of this post, I've more or less completed the prototype version of the first game project, which is as far as I plan to take it for the time being. It's been a lot of work, particularly this weekend, and a lot of staring at the screen wondering what's not working, but it's finally complete.
As it stands, the three layers of platforms move at different speeds as intended, the player character jumps towards the mouse cursor as intended, and the camera moves from left to right at a gradually increasing rate, just as intended. Falling off the bottom of the screen or falling behind to the left side will result in a fail state, and restart the game.
Now, sadly this prototype isn't even close to being as complete as I would like. There is a distinct lack of polish to it, giving the game a rather bare-bones feel, and it isn't without its bugs. The only notable bug at the moment is a very serious (and often game-breaking) problem with the game over function, whereby the parallaxing layers of platforms won't reset properly. This typically leaves the character falling off the bottom of the screen continually, and forces the player to restart the game.
Otherwise, I haven't yet tried exporting the game for use outside of the Unity engine (which is bound to be all kinds of fun with figuring out window sizes and such), and there is also only a single level to be played, which doesn't change from playthrough to playthrough, or randomly generate its feature, resulting in very limited playability in the game's current state.
However, the level that is available feels very much like I hoped it would, and feels like a sufficient departure from the original mechanics I started with. Moreover, as much as I've playtested the game myself to craft the levels and ensure the code doesn't break under any typical circumstance, I'm still finding the game to be surprisingly enjoyable, and something I might play on and off if it had more levels.
The game screen upon conclusion. In the top-centre, you can see the full map of the first level, the goal point of which is the very small red flag near the right-hand-side.
There's something about the degree of challenge, combined with the difficult-yet-oddly-satisfying movement controls that leaves me laughing frustratedly every time I fall off a platform.
I'm considering revisiting this prototype later, and perhaps making a real game out of it (in my own time, of course). I'll also try to get it uploaded to UCS's WaterFrontGames website so that any of you readers can play it for yourselves.
For now, I'm going to stop there; it's late, I'm surprisingly tired, and I have an early start in the morning. Next week, we'll be undertaking the second project's Tutorial Phase.
Until then, I wish you readers a very happy evening and a wonderful goodnight.
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