The Cannonball That Could

• Knowing the phases of game development

  • Since I made this game a capstone project at my college (University of Colorado Colorado Springs), I learned the critical phases of game development and adapted to those deadlines.

  • I created a design document first, then made the prototype, then the vertical slice, and then iterated on the game for 2-3 weeks until the game was in the beta phase of development. I then polished the game until it was ready for release by the end of the semester.

• You can turn your most significant advantages against yourself if you're not careful.

  • During one of my playtesting sessions, one of my classmates suggested that I give the player's ship a collider to crash into, meaning they must navigate their way out of their boat before attacking the enemy.

  • The more the player collides with their ship, the more health they'll lose, making a great risk-reward situation where the risk is hurting yourself, and the reward is making it out and being free to strike the enemy.

• The choice of mobility

  • I initially allowed the player to move in all directions after being fired out of the cannon. However, I noticed that the game's flow was starting to become more like a side-scrolling action game (like Jetpack Joyride). Therefore, I decided to limit the player's regular mobility to moving up and/or down.​​

  • I then added a slowdown mechanic that lets the player move freely in all directions while the camera slows down. This feature gives the player a choice on how they want to attack the enemy (see below).

• Giving the player the choice of mobility depending on the level design

  • Since the enemy ship has many different weak spots, destroying them should be something the player should earn. 

  • To put this idea into execution, I was able to add thin maze-like pathways leading to the enemy weak spots so that the player could carefully navigate through them with the slowdown mechanic and earn better chances of winning the game.

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