The idea for Bossinabox was formed in a two hour brainstorming session after we found
out we lost one of our teammates and had to change the idea due to time constraints.
We then proceeded to strip out everything but the core engine in another two hours.
We were able to do this because we extensively used unit tests, so we were sure that
it still worked after taking everything out.
The game is about defeating a boss in a box (as is evident from the name). The boss
tries to escape by attacking the sides of the cube and expanding the cube until it
explodes. You try to defeat the boss by shooting it with different types of ammo that
you collect by shooting off its arms.
Fling is a game in which you control a catapult on top of a citadel and throw gigantic
boulders at targets in the world. Minions stream out of the citadel to gather
resources and build towers which help you destroy the opposing citadels.
Destroying objects in the world (including your own minions) increases the mayhem
meter which in turn speeds up your minions, allowing them to do their jobs faster.
I was primarily responsible for the networking and gameplay code although I also
wrote most of the lua scripts for the menu systems. The networking code used
the lock-step networking model and included 8 player lan play, reliable UDP, server
migration, and several other standard networking features. Networking was fun
and interesting to work on because it was completely different from any programming
I'd ever done before.
Out of all of the games I've made, Paper Chase 2 ended up being the most fun to play.
There's something visceral about being able to destroy stick figured characters
by breaking their legs in two and stealing the bottom half for a club. We had
this idea to go over-the-top ridiculous with the game, and it was a lot of
fun reaching our goal.
I learned a tremendous amount from making this game. What I learned more than
anything was how to deal with people in a team environment when things weren't
moving smoothly. We had a teammate whose work amounted to negative progress.
Fortunately, the team collectively kept a cool head and we were able to remove
him from the team with minimal conflict. I also learned how important engine
design, realistic goals, and time management were.
Skill Pickles, a horribly named game, was the first game that I worked on with
other people. Our freshman year game is required to be done completely in text,
which gives it the throwback feeling. The game is a mix between Zelda's exploring
and the Dragon Warrior battle system. We were especially proud of our game
because it had particle systems in it, which seemed very difficult at the time.
It was a fun experience, but it's certainly not a high tech game by any stretch of the
imagination.