The Friday Project - Update 3

Rollercoasters

Not much to report this week. I took the whole week off to spend time with my family, with the result being that programming and level design took a back seat. However, I did get a chance to add a few more levels, to Whirling Frenzy, bringing the total to 10. Some of the new levels were created the day after a visit to a theme park, and I couldn't help noticing parallels between rollercoaster designs and level design, and indeed between rollercoasters and videogames.

Design Elements and Genres

There are many companies that make coasters, but there seems to be a fairly common and rather evocative language which uses phrases such as Cobra Roll, Immelmann Loop and Corkscrew to describe various design elements. There are even different "genres" of coasters, such as Wild Mouse coasters and Inverted coasters. However, the way that the design elements are put together, and the way that they are themed to make the overall package can make all the difference to the experience. This is as true of rollercoasters as it is of games.

With Whirling Frenzy, the levels are described in terms of start points, end points, straights, curves, corners and "rotation reversers". All of these design elements combine to make a level. The hard part comes in making the levels challenging enough, by introducing the player to different techniques that they need to get through the levels before working them up to longer levels that require them to put all of their skills together to demonstrate their mastery over the game.

Favourites

It's a bit of a stretch, but everyone has their favourite games. And here's my favourite coaster, Nemesis at Alton Towers. It has been a while, but my recollection is that it brings together a number of elements in such a way as to make one of the tightest, most intense rides that you just want to do again and again. It's not the fastest, nor the tallest, nor the scariest, but it is consistently intense.



If I could wish for my game to be any rollercoaster then it would be this one. Short. Intense. And you want to do it again and again. It's not about any single design element. It's not just about the theming. It's just the entire package - it's all about the feeling that you get from having mastered it.

Famous Designers

Finally, as with games, rollercoasters have famous designers, such as Werner Stengel, who seems to be the brains behind half the coasters I've ridden.

This week's snapshot

Here is this week's playable snapshot. You probably know the score by now - click this link or scan the QR code to download it to your Android phone.


The main changes are:

• tweaked physics (and it's still not right)
• new font for the score
• 10 playable levels

I want this game to have short, intense levels that have you coming back for more. I hope I'm getting there, although I'd be surprised if any of the current levels make it into the final game. As ever, please let me know what you think.