Summary
Solo project
Date: 2018 to 2019 (1 year)
Tools: Game Maker Studio 2, Trello, Draw.io
Description
Asteroid is a remake of the famous Atari Asteroid of 1979, a 2D shoot’em up. The game is improved with the addition of several ships, many asteroids to destroy, and finally, several events.
Game concept
Asteroid is my very first game that I started at the age of 18. It is based on the very famous arcade game Asteroid from 1979 by Atari. I did not choose it by chance; it is one of my father’s favorite childhood games, along with Pinball and Space Invader.
Instead of simply recreating it, I decided to adapt it to my desires. I wanted Asteroid to have more content in terms of enemies, asteroids, etc., something to surprise the player. Secondly, I wanted a more active gameplay, which is to say, that the player would feel an increase in difficulty.
Diversify the gameplay
To improve the content of the game, I decided to add several elements
- Three ships. A classic ship, maneuverable and fast enough, a slow and imposing ship but which has a double shot, and a very fast ship, which implies that it takes time to master its movement.
- Four random bonuses: Shield, shrinkage, improved shooting and laser.
- Three sizes of asteroids (small, medium and large) with six colors. Each color implies different behaviors.
- Two enemies, a remote-controlled enemy on our position and a shooting enemy.
- Two events. A meteor shower destroys everything in its path and a black hole swallows the asteroids and spits them out after a few seconds.
Difficulty curve
To guarantee an increase in difficulty, the asteroids have different behaviors. Every 5 levels, a new type of asteroid appears until reaching the max level (30). Moreover, the frequency of the appearance of the asteroids and the power of the enemies as the levels increase progressively are totally governed by the current level. The diagram below summarizes these behaviors.
What I learned
Asteroid was, and will remain, a great step in my career in video games. It was my first project in the business, and although it was “just” an improved remake, it taught me a lot. Indeed, it is my first big computer project with several thousand lines of code. Moreover, I was able to try different disciplines (pixel art, game design, sound design, etc.).
It was after this project that I really decided to dedicate myself to video games and to believe in my dreams.
