1. One month to go
Infiltration is a 3D runner game I entered into the 2019 edition of js13kgames. Read on to learn how it was made and some details about the inner clockwork.
- One month to go
- Same ol' framework
- 2D and 3D Rendering
- Reaching 13k
Year-round I maintain a list of ideas, so as to be better prepared once August comes and the theme is unveiled. The recommendation "list 100, prototype 10, produce 1" still holds, and once the theme is out I spend one day thinking of all possible interpretations, while sifting through the list, trying to decide on the best match. Most serious candidates this year were :
- oldschool RPG/roguelike (à la Dungeon Master)
- multiplayer wizard dueling environment, with ranking (server category)
- car racing in urban environment (reusing engine from Staccato)
- flight or aerobatics simulator
- 3D runner in a spaceship
I distinctly remember seeing, some time ago, a short video of the latter concept, in a slow-moving, monochromatic environment, and the idea originates from back then. Searching again for it, I was unable to find it, nor anything even vaguely looking like the images I could remember. Oh well, time to create my own interpretation. I struggled a bit to integrate the theme "back", finally deciding for a lifesaving ability borrowed to the Sands of Time : being able to rewind time back a few seconds. After submitting, I noticed that a few other competitors shared that same idea.
I then went to describe the game on paper :
- the environment is made of (mostly) straight corridors, connected by curved junctions
- the goal is to bring a ship from the beginning to the end (the reactor core) without being destroyed on its way
- there is a limited time to complete the goal
- the player can navigate the ship sideways or vertically, with the keyboard or the mouse
- the ship has safeguards so that the player will not crash it on the sides, ground or ceiling (there are edge cases where it can happen anyway, such as losing reactors while swinging)
- this ship will move forward on its own, the player can accelerate but not slow down
- the player must dodge obstacles. This is the principle of a runner game, and this one lets you move in two dimensions instead of one
- some obstacles can move (did not make it, for lack of space)
Some extra ideas came up during the month, while development was already ongoing, and got added if they were compatible with the architecture, added to the fun factor and had a limited footprint :
- the craft does not have global HP, but instead sheds reactors as the result of a collision. Losing reactors reduces its manoeuvrability, and it flies like a brick once all of them are gone
- once activating flyback (flying back in time), a ghost of the former craft is shown for a few seconds
I went for the sci-fi universe, borrowing mostly from Star Wars, and a bit from other games and universes as well. Can you spot all the references ?
Warning : spoiler alert
| Reference | Source |
|---|---|
| Description : The Death Cube | The Death Star |
| Description : launch a torpedo into the exhaust vent | Star Wars : A New Hope (scenario) |
| Description : The Force | Star Wars (all of them) |
| Intro : "our last hope" | Star Wars : A New Hope (title) |
| AI voice : "Sorry Luke" | crossover between Star Wars and 2001 |
| AI voice upon winning | Elite |
- One month to go
- Same ol' framework
- 2D and 3D Rendering
- Reaching 13k