Space Dino | Devpost

Inspiration

As COVID-19 has ravaged the world, we decided it was time to create something that brought smiles to people’s faces. As a result, we wanted to build a fun and engaging game with an interesting backstory and intriguing gameplay system.

What it does

Implements a spawning system for enemies (ie. Evil Spacegulls), a collision detection between different screen elements, and uses velocity vectorization to update game state. This velocity manipulation is used in various situations like having the enemies target the player (ie. Space Dino) and having projectiles launch the player backwards via conservation of momentum. There are also additional features, such as the ability to replay the game even after the player has lost and sound effects that can be included or excluded by the user.

How we built it

Using Visual Studio Code’s Live Share feature, the three of us were able to collaborate on various files to build the backend component game. Our graphic designer also utilized Piskel, an online application to create the pixel art (ie. background, icons, characters) seen in the game.

Challenges we ran into

Many, many challenges. The biggest challenge was that two of the three members in our team had very little knowledge of JavaScript, a language necessary in building and implementing websites. However, despite the long hours testing, thinking, and resolving the technical issues, we were able to overcome these obstacles together by teaching one another and researching.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

First and foremost, our biggest accomplishment was creating a complete and working project, rather than a prototype of one. Second, the aesthetics and the design of the game was very well-executed, thus, producing a satisfying front-end design for the game. Lastly, but most important, we all have learned a great deal from this experience and found this game extremely fun to play!

What we learned

We realized how much thought, time, and effort is put into much more complex projects and applications that many of us use everyday, like Facebook. We also learned more about web development, game design, and coding languages, like JavaScript and CSS.

What's next for Space Dino

We’d like to get some more features built in such as power-ips, to extend the scope of our game, and keep people coming back for more. In addition, we’d like to spread the use of Space Dino, to help others enjoy this game with us.