Overview:
Ripples is a rhythm based one on one arena game. Players duke it out on the surface of water. Driven by the music, the players jump automatically. Each time the players land, they generate a ripple which is used to attack. The players themselves are in control of only their character’s movement and action. The game is all about positioning and finding the correct time to utilize your action.
There are two builds to this game, a PC version and a mobile version. Besides controls, the only other difference between the two experiences is multiplayer. The PC version has head to head multiplayer where players select their character and face off on the chosen track.
Ripples is my capstone project that takes place over the course of two semesters. The first semester our team consisted of 4 members: 1 producer, 1 designer, and 2 programmers. The second semester we expanded to nine people and picked up and artist. Since we had no artist the first semester, we focused on more of geometry and vector art style. Now that we have an artist we are starting to transition away to a different art style.
My Role:
Throughout the course of this project I have been working closely with the designer on the core mechanics of the gameplay. Largely my focus has been on implementing the ripples and player actions. Each character has their own unique action that a player can activate. It is set up so that our designer can easily make actions and attach them quickly to a character for testing.
I have also been the main programmer for porting it to mobile during the development process. So I am in charge of making sure it runs smoothly on the mobile devices and most computers. Relating to that, I have been working heavily on the collisions between the character and the ripples. After trying out various techniques, simple circle-line collision proved to the fastest and most versatile way to implement it.
The project is still in the works and I will continue to be working closely with the designer and optimizing the game for lower end PCs and mobile builds.