I sat down and did a little thinking about where I'd like to see this game go. In terms of additions to the game engine, I saw a possible 9 items to deal with. I re-ordered them in terms of development priority, as follows:
1. Re-implement mid-air creation of blocks.
This is how it was originally; after initial testing, I felt that this made the game too easy, as if you ended up missing a jump or falling through a floor trap, you could easily freeze time and simply create a block directly underneath you to arrest your fall and prevent undue hardship. Feedback from a few testers encouraged me to re-think this. I want to re-implement it, while finding some way for the player to suffer some consequences for such hasty action. The simplest solution is to knock off just a bit of life energy when landing. I will look into developing a way to suffer a small amount of damage for touching a block for a short period just after it's been created.
2. Proximity mines. I can easily visualize these. Proximity mines (are there any other kind, really?) are bombs that detonate after a short time beyond when they've been triggered by something that comes too near them. These can be small objects resting on floors or walls, with a detector surrounding them. If the player overlaps a detector, trip a flag on the mine so a timer begins. When the timer reaches a certain point, create an explosion at the point of the mine; if the player is caught in the explosion, they suffer damage.
3. Piledrivers. Another game that I absolutely love that's been released here is "Mr. Roboto" by WillyC; I love the game so much I released a 10-pack of custom levels, and now WillyC has included them in the native download. In that game, there were large metal pistons that served alternatively as walls and as hazards; the player must use timing and skill to move past them safely or be squashed. The tricky part about this is how to deal with what happens when a piledriver collides with a collected block...
4. "Robot" AI enemies. This is the first enemy I'd like to attempt, and it's pretty much the simplest one I could think of. A small robot moves back and forth on a platform, and shoots at the player if they come within line of sight.
5. New level. I'd like to develop at least one new level using all the new features I'd developed for the game up to this point: deadfalls, falling block traps, proximity mines, piledrivers, and Robot AI enemies.
6. Tripwires. A hybrid of falling-block traps and proximity mines; when triggered, these traps cause something to fall from a certain distance away from the trigger point. I also imagine that the hazards that are dropped (rolling boulders, falling blocks, etc.) will be pasted into the background as soon as their momentum reaches 0. The player can then walk on top of the hazards unharmed.
7. Compactors. Like piledrivers, but with horizontal movement. These walls would press together like the trash compactor in the Death Star in the film "Star Wars." Maybe there's an entire level based on this, where the player must find their way up a "garbage chute" to escape their grisly fate. Again the biggest challenge here (at first thought) would be to figure out what to do when a player's block collides with the moving walls.
8. Flyer enemy AI. I imagine some kind of small flying enemy, an alien that randomly flies to the left or right, and rests on any wall with which they collide. This is a low priority, simply because I'm more concerned about puzzle elements beyond building the basic robot AI opponent.
9. Blob enemy AI. This is an enemy that remains dormant and invulnerable until the player comes within proximity; it then animates and pursues the player a la "Lode Runner" until the player is out of range. Again, a low priority; I'm also thinking this enemy would be more trouble than it's worth. Maybe I can develop a way for the enemy to climb walls, being that it's a sticky blob-like creature.
So that's it for the current to-do list. There's no deadline; other-life priorities are closer to the top of the list than this project.
If anyone has feedback or ideas, or would like to test out some of my updates, please let me know.
Thanks for reading!
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