Flash Game - Idea and Design

Yes, you guessed it, it's work time again. This time the BA IMP gods that be have set us a lovely Flash task to fulfil. The brief? "Just make something in Flash". Oh, okay.

So I set off thinking what I could do. The tutorials we did involved clicking and dragging boxes, randomly spawning enemies to kill, and making a race-track with power-ups. So trust me to want to do something completely unrelated.

Hardcore readers will know of a project I did even before I started university simply called The Ball Game. That was made using AS2 and a bit of a ropey way of making it all. The price you pay for not really planning ahead.

This time last year I put my notes online to the next game I was going to make, which was just called The Sun Game for lack of any other better name. The aim was to (again) collect coins as you navigate round the orbit of planets around the sun. I know it makes little sense written down, but bear with me.

Requirements

Now there wasn't really any requirements set in the brief, per se. All it needs to do is be something in Flash. All it needs to do is show some interactivity, which is pretty impossible to not do during Flash.

But what are my own requirements?

• It needs to be fun. Nobody wants to play a game they can't get any fun from. So don't make it hard straight away.
• Should be instantly pick-up-and-play-able. You shouldn't have to spend donkey's yonks trying to learn controls or get any sort of reward from. People should feel satisfied with their experience from level 1.
• It needs to look all nice and swish. Glossy graphics and all that. Otherwise it's just clunky and un-fun.
• Oh, and some nice sounds, too. Clicks, whooshes, etc. Just not too over the top.
• Has to have longevity. Why would people play this game again? Randomise item/coin placements. Achievements?

How it will look?

It's always good to plan Flash games from the get-go, I've learned. So diagrams are awesome. If you didn't understand how the game would work, then take a look at this diagram. Should help clear things up:

Still no idea? Well, it'll be clear when I make it. Think a circular Pacman and you'll get there eventually.

See there I've provided a list of power-ups. Not all the things will be bad. Anyone can play the game with relative amounts of skill avoiding all power-ups and get a good score, but if you want to challenge yourself, aim for the good ones (or, rather, the ones you think will benefit your play style)

Tomorrow will see basic construction of the idea in Flash. Basic things such as orbits, the orbitals and the sun thing being main priority. So you should be able to see basically how it works soon!