A few weeks back I created some mock-up screenshots for #screenshotsaturday of an interpretation of the Arkanoid game mechanic blocking humanity’s logistics and distribution centers.
I enjoyed making the static scene, so I decided that when I am not overburdened with relaxation this holiday season, I am going to try and recreate the game mechanics and share my progress with the community.
I didn’t consider the warehouse worker’s pay being linked to clearing the minigame. Thank you, I will consider adding something along those lines when I get to making the ‘narrative’ screen later.
I wasn’t happy with how the light boxes just disappeared when the ball collided with them, so I added a particle emitter that acts as an illusion of the box shattering on impact.
There’s something so satisfying about the way the blocks dissolve into sparkles. Was almost mesmerized watching the gameplay round - it seems enjoyable and calming. Though I imagine, the pace ramps up quickly in other levels. Do you currently have plans to create a demo?
That is correct, I plan to have the velocity of the ball increase slightly every time that it hits the paddle. Right now I have the ball speed capped to a manageable level so that I don’t have to worry about my own lack-of-playing-skill getting in the way of testing out new features.
Right now I am only focused on remaking the original classic game for recreational, and educational purposes. If I decide to release it in the future, I will probably have to alter it sufficiently as not to get me into any trouble. But, that is only for consideration at a much later stage.
With this ‘Power Up’ the player can catch the ball with the paddle. They then have a three second window to aim/redirect and manually release the ball before the ball gets automatically released again.
(This was slightly more complicated to implement than what I initially thought it would be)
Here is the video of the Catch ball powerup working:
Greetings, @Candescent_Games; I hope you’re doing well. You’ve really been hammering out updates on this personal project for the past couple of weeks, and it’s lovely to see! Your Arkanoid remake looks terrific so far; keep up the great work!
It has Lasers!! Well, only if the player collects the red capsule with an L on it, then the paddle will transforms into a ‘Tank Paddle’ that allows the player to shoot twin laser bolts for as long as the power up is active.
Interestingly, this power-up capsule had a similar initial response from adult me than from what child me struggled with it all the time. I remember always getting distracted by either the capsule coming down, or by the shooting after collecting it, and stopped paying attention to blocking the ball with the paddle.
Here is the video of the simple transformation and the laser cannons firing:
I managed to finish all of the remaining ‘Power-Ups’ just in time for the weekend! (Well, all the power ups from the original game that is, I might add a few of my own later.)
First up is the ‘Triple/Disrupt’ power-up. When collected it triples all the balls in play. This power-up is stackable, so if there is currently multiple balls in play from a previous pick-up, they will get tripled. I guess this was called ‘Disrupt’ in the original game because it disrupts your focus when trying to pick which ball to play.
Here is the video for the ‘Triple/Disrupt’ power-up:
The second one is the ‘Break All’ power-up. It breaks all the remaining boxes remaining in the level, effectively giving the player a free pass and a score boost.
Here is the video for ‘Break All’ power-up:
There is one other power-up, but all it does is grant the player with an extra life. So, no need to create a video for that.
@eobet Thank you. For some of the sounds, like the ball hitting the paddle, or the lightboxes, I tried to keep it close to the original. But for the power-ups I did use new sounds where needed.
That is in the pipeline to be added, but I think it will be subtle, as not to distract too much.
I have added the Paddle Destruction event. When no balls remain in the playing field, the paddle explodes in a fireball with sparks. Maybe a bit dramatic, but I like it.
For now it just dips to black while the paddle is reset, but I am currently working on all of the UI elements needed for scoring, level transitioning, and life lost transition.
It has been a couple of weeks, but I finally have some updates to share!
The first 8 round/level layouts have been added to the game. Along with the game instance functionality, and the UI/HUD.
Regarding the round/level layouts:
I have decided to break the 32 main levels from the original game into 4 groups of 8 using the same environment. The first 8 will use the same warehouse scene, but sticking to my theme of ‘The disruptions of humanity’s logistics’, each level will have more warehouse inventory accumulating that couldn’t be shipped because of the blockage/obstruction.
Here is a screenshot of what round/level 8 looks like:
I’m loving the particle effects combined with lumen GI, very satisfying!
I’ve got an idea for one of your powerups, the one which slow down the game, you could add a button to control its effect so you can speedup the game to normal speed once you’re confident the direction of your shot is ok.
It might be a nice dopamine-releasing mechanic
Great idea! Maybe even darker setups so you can leverage on VFXs + Lumen GI even more.
Looking good! I’d not add motion blur to the projectile, makes me a bit motion sick focusing on it. (Might also be the video compression?) You can add a trail without the blur
