After completing a full remake of Arkanoid a few weeks back I wanted to start a new project from scratch, but my wife has convinced me to bring work done for a previous project forward into a remake project instead.
That is why I decided to convert the ‘Barroom Billiards’ project I started a while back into a Lunar Pool retro remake. For the project I am going to make my own interpretation that ‘Lunar’ in the title is not for referencing the moon, but derived from ‘Saloon’ which is like a bar environment. And Lunar could also imply something crazy at a stretch. Therefore a game with crazy pool table layouts, and set in n bar like environment, is within the realm of possibility for remaking Lunar Pool with a thematic interpretation.
Starting the project, I used less of the work done for my past project than what I expected. I migrated the models to a new project, but not any of the blueprints. Now that I know a bit more, I realized that the old blueprints I made worked, but they were inefficient solutions.
I re-scripted all of the blueprints from scratch, removed some altogether, and merged the functionality of others together. For instance, I had an individual blueprint for each ball colour/number, now there is only one actor class for them all, and I use construction scripts to alter information. I learned a lot of this during my Arkanoid Remake and building the 33 levels.
Here is a video of the basic gameplay loop:
For those interested in the previous project I am converting into this remake, here is the link to the old forum thread:
I have implemented the ‘Power Meter’ and ‘Strike Counter’ from the original game!
At first I wanted to make it as part of the UI hud, but after giving it some consideration, I have decided to make them as physicalized items in the scene. Something a real player would have been able to look at.
I was able to implement the following for this update:
1 - A score system that is similar to that of the original game. With a multiple of 10 with the number depicted on each colored ball, timed by the current ‘Rate’, added to the score per ball pocketed.
2 - A score multiplier ‘Rate’ counter that goes up one for each consecutive ball pocketed.
3 - The ‘ball’ or ‘lives remaining’ counter that counts down for each cue ball lost. Either because it was pocketed, or because the player took three consecutive strikes without pocketing a numbered colour ball.
4 - The current ‘Stage’ indicator.
Here is a video demonstrating this all working:
I am not sure if I am happy with the scale of everything on screen yet, and will probably adjust the ratios a bit. Maybe pull the camera a bit further back, and scale the two UI elements down slightly.
I am currently busy with producing all of the table layouts for my Lunar Pool full retro remake.
Here is a comparison of the first five stages of my remake next to the first five stages of the original game. I do interpret, and iterate on the tables somewhat for my remake project.
The design of every pool table layout is sleek and impressive. I am confident that playing your re-creation on mobile devices would look stunning visually!
Thank you, I tried to interoperate the original table shapes.
I can only aspire to one day obtain the skills to produce a game like this for mobile platforms. Right now I am only focused on teaching myself to reproduce the game mechanics and having it run on PC.
Thank you for the feedback, it is much appreciated!
The trailer is perfect, with just the right amount of drama, and the background music creates a rather calming and serene atmosphere. I find it difficult to say whether I prefer this trailer or the Arkanoid trailer, as both are equally impressive in terms of quality! They effectively capture the intensity of their respective games. Kudos to you for crafting the perfect atmosphere for both remakes!
I am wrapping everything up this week. A post should be ready by this weekend, with a write-up of my development experience, and accompanied by a full playthrough.
