A Term (A WPI Platformer Game)

Inspiration

We wanted to create a video game, and as we are all new to hackathons/game jams, we decided to stick to something simple and straightforward. A platformer was a natural choice, as it is one of the most well recognized styles of game that as able to be implemented reasonably within the time period given. We also decided to theme it around a setting most people are familiar with who are participating in GoatHacks 2024- WPI. All of that combined and we began to lay out our plans for "A Term."

What it does

"A Term" is a 2-dimensional platformer game that runs on Windows OS where you play as Gompei the Goat, WPI's mascot, as he makes his way through A-Term at WPI. There are three levels and a boss fight, where each level is themed around a different academic subject and location at WPI. Level 1 takes place at Stoddard Hall and is themed around Calculus. Level 2 takes place at Olin Hall and is themed around Physics. and finally, level 3 takes place at Goddard Hall and is themed around Chemistry. The boss battle takes place in Founders Hall, as that is the residential hall that we all currently live in, and the final boss is our friend, Daniel, who is the social media manager for GoatHacks 2024. Each level gives a different power up upon completion that affects the gameplay and strategy as the game progresses. By completing the game, you will have successfully passed A-Term at WPI!

How we built it

The primary software we used to create this game was Gamemaker Studio 2, which uses its own language known as GML (Gamemaker Language), which is based in Javascript, C++, and C#. This software is made for developing 2-dimensional video games, so it as our natural first choice. We chose to divide and conquer our programming effort by having one of our two programmers develop the enemy mechanics while the other focused on level design and building the game's environment. GitHub was utilized to share code with each other. Our sound engineer composed all of the music and sounds that appear in "A Term" from scratch using Musicscore. The backgrounds for the different levels and menus were created by one of us using the application Procreate, and our last member was in charge of creating all of the sprites and assets that appeared throughout the game.

Challenges we ran into

Our main challenge that we faced was against time. We were not able to add all of the features into our game as e had hoped due to the time constraints of GoatHacks, so we had to decide what was most necessary to accomplish first to get a working and complete product ready before the deadline. With both our music and programming, forgetting to save our project resulted in loss of work, though we were able to recover most of it thanks to GitHub. Figuring out how to implement the power-ups gained at the end of each level as a struggle as well. trying to fit all of the different abilities of Gompei into a single object was becoming difficult, so we created separate objects for Gompei that would replace the main player object when needed for different power-up abilities.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are very proud to have a completely original soundtrack and set of assets, as we built everything that was included in "A Term" from scratch. Apart from that, being able to fit in three levels and a boss fight seemed like it may have been unattainable at times, but we eventually reached our goal and were able to come up with a finished product.

What we learned

We learned a lot about the game development process, such as how to allocate work among our group, setting progress goals, and focusing on the fundamental elements needed to have a working and complete version of our project by the deadline. We were also able to apply our previous knowledge of computer science and expand on it with a new language that has familiar properties embedded within it.

What's next for A Term (A WPI Platformer Game)

We hope to further develop "A Term" and release it on Steam and other platforms. We also plan on adding some features that were cut from this version of the game due to time constraints, such as a pendulum obstacle for the physics level, as well as more levels that are themed around even more subjects.

Built With

• gamemaker
• gml
• musicscore
• procreate