Late Fall 2015 (4 weeks)
Assault was second game made for Software Development 1, which was also the first game I made with textures and sprites in my own engine. Assault is a twin stick tank game, where each tread on the tank is controlled by an individual stick on the controller. The objective is to get to the exit portal, shooting enemy tanks and turrets while healing yourself with repair kits along the way.
The biggest feature I added was map editing. By reading the pixel data of a image, I was able to translate colors to tiles on the map. Through this image reader, I am able to quickly edit the placement of walls, ground, enemies, health pickups, player start, and exit portals. This was extremely helpful as I was able to easily balance the map without needing to create a massive array of tiles hard coded into the source code, along with being able to quickly change the map without needing to recompile the game. I enjoyed this feature so much, I used it in some of my other projects, like my BulletHell for enemy wave creation.
Once I had level editing and loading from a file, I was able to add another feature: multiple level loading. By loading, but not processing, the images at start and storing them in an array, I could have several levels be played through once the player reached the exit of each level. This allowed for a more complete feeling game to be presented, and allowed me to show the strength of my level editor.
Other notable features are Tank AI, health bars & repair kits, and an animated Attract screen.
