I decided to go with the maze game for the iPhone/iPod Touch. It will consist of a target that will either be circular or cuboid that the player must move to the end point using their fingers to guide it. Touching a wall or object will set the target back to the last checkpoint. I haven’t decided whether I want to implement lives or a timer. I will try both and see which one playetesters enjoy more. I think lives will be best, but that remains to be seen. Simple game with some decent potential, here’s what I have for the “boring architecture part”:
Graphics
- Don’t need texture loading (that I can think of)
- Simple style of colored shapes
- View scrolling when the target gets to the edge of a defined area.
- Will have to rebuild Radiance to make sure all of this works well.
User Interface
- Basic Cocoa UI elements, using Radiance I can overlay what I need.
- Want to experiment with different kinds of menus and UI displays.
- Need to make sure view scrolling is adjustable.
Physics
- Implementing Separating Axis Theorem which requires rebuilding Continuum.
- Need to detect edge triggers for things like doors and victory conditions.
- Unit test the crap out of my revamped vector system and rotation implementation.
Game Logic
- Target resets to last checkpoint after (5) seconds of not being touched.
- If the target touches an edge or another object, reset.
- Timer? Lives? TBA
- Later levels will have the target orbit the touch point.
- Later levels will have multiple targets.
- Later levels will have multiple targets with independent end points.
Level Builder
- Grid system to start, build level with “positive” tiles on negative background.
- Want to implement this in Lua to allow for greatest flexibility.
So, that’s pretty much the gist of it. I have a lot of work to do. Already rebuilt the vector class I was using to be a little more friendly. Looking into SAT implementations. I understand the concepts, but I’m unsure about implementation. This is gonna be a lot of work at a difficult time. Cross your fingers…
