Uni projects: Brainvaders

This project was, by far, the most enjoyable one I’ve ever undertaken at university. The assignment was simple, as they often were – we had to remake Space Invaders using Blitz Basic. As it was the third and final assignment on my Computer Games Development module, I decided to pull out all of the stops and spend a solid month or so (I’m sad like that) creating what you see here.

Brainvaders juggles the Space Invaders formula around a bit. Instead of being stuck with the same old boring ‘pchoo rifle‘, you’re given the ability to upgrade your alien-blaster to a choice of four other weapons (rapid fire, double shot, triple shot and homing). You can also upgrade your shields to withstand more damage, and buy a few nifty extras like a tractor beam and ‘orbiters’, which help with the alien blasting. Upgrades can be purchased in exchange for alien brains (which are favoured for their mild creamy taste. Great on toast!), which must first be seperated from their original owners.

Brainvaders follow the typical Invaderesque style of movement (Drop down! Increase speed! Reverse direction!) with the added freedom of being able to swoop down to get a bit close and personal whenever they feel like it. This will happen more often as you kill more of them, so don’t stay still for too long…

As you dispose of waves of enemies, new ones will arrive that are slightly stronger and more aggressive. If you die, the game won’t actually end, you’ll just lose around half of your points. Thus, you’ll be able to keep playing until you get bored.

All of the content was made by me except the sound effects which were all made by my good friend, Matt Griffith, whose voice acting abilities are almost godlike.

Links:

• Source code & exe

Uni projects: Stick Tennis

Recently, I’ve been busier than ever. I’ve had no less than four projects to juggle, two of which are now – thankfully – complete. I’ve been working on the other two almost incessantly, but during my brief breaks I’ve been writing a computing article that should hopefully interest. For now, I’m just going to post the remainder of my university projects from last year. These ones are a bit more exciting!

The first is Stick Tennis. This is the first graphical game I got to make in university, and made a nice change from Interactive Fiction!. The assignment specification was incredibly simple: make a Pong game. Beyond that we had free rein, as long as it didn’t stray too far from the original concept.

The rules of Stick Tennis differ slightly to those of the original Pong. The scoring system is a dumbed-down version of tennis (each successive point is worth 15, 30, 40, etc) and the playing field is a lot longer than it is wide. I was actually quite lucky to pass this assignment with the score that I got (85%+) because I neglected one of the fundamental rules of Pong – that the ball should be able to bounce off the top and bottom of the field. Luckily, my lecturer overlooked this.

If you find it difficult to hit the ball, don’t worry – for a pong game it’s insanely difficult to control! You’ll probably get bored and stop playing before winning against the computer anyway. It’s not the exactly the most exciting game in the world, but it might keep you entertained for a few minutes while you watch the ridiculous budget stickman animations in action (which I’m actually really proud of).

I’ve included the source code for anyone interested in taking a peek. It’s in Blitz Basic format (.bb)

Links:

Source code & exe