D: Skaterbot

Fengol

Skaterbot is an endless runner type game where you must explore keyboard combos to perform skateboard tricks for a high score. The player is a skateboarding robot and using only 2 button to lean forwards or backwards they can: jump, flip, swivel and perform a variety of different skateboard tricks.

Download Skaterbot06.rar

Directions
A - Lean backward
D - Lean forward



Changelog
v0.6
* Added music!
* Updated credits to include Tim Habour for music
v0.5
* Added Alley Cat
* Added state message
* Added 360 trick with state transition
v0.4
* Added leaning forward animation
* Added backward (nollie) jump
* Updated game summary to be more concise
v0.3
* Title screen & finish screen
* Start and finish line cones
* Title screen skaterbot waiting animations
v0.2
* Added 2 new tricks
* Updated background a little bit
* Lots of behind the scenes plumbing for tricks
* Debug mode (not available in release version)
* Updated readme blurb with eventual game goals
v0.1
* Temporarily removed lean forward functions
* Add jumping
* Added crappy road to give illusion of movement
* Added timer which the resets the game
* Added start of graphics and animations for skaterbot
* Added holding window for buttons, timer and future scoring
v0.0
* While still on the ground the character can lean forward and backwards.

Actrox

Pressing both A & D makes him duck? Cause at the moment your guy shrinks when doing that.
Do you plan to make the leaning only work on the ground? May be cool if that when he is airborne that he does different tricks with the button holding?

Fengol

Yip, I'm still working on jumping; but there's a low jump and a high jump and then the input will do different tricks depending on your starting position and how long you charge the move. I fear there's going to be LOTS of animations to cover all the possible states.

Fengol

I've updated the first post with the latest download. Here I've added the jump (while removing the leaning forward for now while I update the graphics) and you can see what skaterbot looks like (heavily inspired by The Cheat).

I've also added a timer so you get a minute of player and the idea is to score as many points as possible in the time by doing skateboard tricks.

I've got lots of animations to do but I'm quite excited to add as many combinations of in-air and on-ground tricks as possible.

I need your input; should I add hazards for you to jump over and give the character to the ability to crash, losing you time? My stretch goal is to add rails to grind for tricks to give yet-another set of combinations to use for tricks.

Bensonance

That is an adorable... thing :).

I like the idea of doing tricks that work in a combo fashion - button mashing was always great fun in the Tony Hawk games :D.

I think hazards should rather be about stopping the player from losing the opportunity to do more tricks rather than losing you time? Not sure how that would be implemented in it's current state, though.

Gazza_N

This The Cheatbot needs an electronic pizza trophy. Here: {>

This has a lot of potential for neato combos. As Ben says above, mashing buttons to make cool stuff happen, then learning how best to chain the stuff you discovered was a huge appeal in the THPS games.

Why not go for a score-based approach like THPS? Have your rails and other trick paraphernalia, and rather than penalising the player directly, simply have them pass by the item or gain reduced points if they don't pull off a trick satisfactorily. Think of it as score "opportunity cost", rather than an explicit penalty for screwing up.

I hope you get a chance to finish this! It could be quite a bit of fun.

Fengol

First post updated!

v0.2
* Added 2 new tricks
* Updated background a little bit
* Lots of behind the scenes plumbing for tricks
* Debug mode (not available in release version)
* Updated readme blurb with eventual game goals

The 2 tricks are:
* Tap A, Tap A
* Tap A, Tap D

I'll get the names of the tricks from my favourite skating game, Skate 2, for showing your trick list and score.

Thanks for the input; I think I'll go with the positive-looking approach of missed opportunities rather than having skaterbot fail. It also means less animations for me ;)

Fengol

Minor update available on the first post. This just rounds the game out so it's a "proper" game with a beginning and an end.

v0.3
* Title screen & finish screen
* Start and finish line cones
* Title screen skaterbot waiting animations

I found there's another trick available in the game as well:
* Tap A, Tap D, Tap D

Manikin

I really like the style and colours you've gone for here, and the large pixel style makes for some really bold, iconic sprites. One thing I'd suggest would be to speed up the scroll/movement speed, even though right now there's nothing to jump over or dodge. It would just make it feel a bit more intense.

I agree with what other people have said about scores and doing tricks with key combos, though I see you've already got some initial tricks in.

In terms of hazards I would say add them, but you could also do something a little unusual and have it focus entirely on the tricks. So perhaps you start at about 5km/h, and each trick speeds you up a little. More elaborate tricks could boost your speed even more, and following one kind trick with another could also give you a boost. You'd lose when you hit 0km/h. It might give the player that really cool Tony Hawk's trick-chaining sense of reward. You could even have a cop or something chasing the skaterbot, giving the player a need to keep moving.

Anyway, very cool, keen to see where this goes.

Fengol

Thanks @Manikin I'll definitely add other scenery and some obstacles to jump over.

Another small update available on the first post.

v0.4
* Added leaning forward animation
* Added backward (nollie) jump
* Updated game summary to be more concise

Gazza_N

Coming along nicely! Digging that kickflip animation something fierce. A few more tricks and some grind surfaces, and you'll be cooking with pixelated gas. :D

Fengol

Update to v0.5!

v0.5
* Added Alley Cat
* Added state message
* Added 360 trick with state transition

The big things I've added here are showing the states I've created so far (8 in total) and a trick that ends in a different state to the one you started in (Tap D, Tap A).

Fengol

Update on the first post!

v0.6
* Added music!
* Updated credits to include Tim Habour for music

Gazza_N

The music is perfect! Other than the lack of score indication and the timer that ticks into the negatives on stage complete, I'd say you have a fantastic little game going. :D

Nandrew

Is it possible to have some form of on-screen indicator for tap timing? Hold down A just long enough to get the "sweet spot" etc.

I think it could fit well into your current system of doing things while still making the experience more "analog" (I think the skill element of timing tricks in that way needs emphasis). If fail conditions worry you, just score that particular trick based on its timing and input spam / lackthereof instead. So you could perform a Perfect ---> Poor on any trick you perform, and score accordingly.

Fengol

Yeah, this starts getting into the frame and buffering data which I'm happy to show off!

Pomb

I so badly wanted to bail, I was doing nollies and kickflips and then tried doing them so that it would overlap with coming down to land, but that dude has too much skill! Bailing would definitely add some difficulty. Button Mashing and knowing what to press feel like they result in the same play experience and I'm not sure what that means.
also maybe balancing during the nollie trick?
Oh and I like the music too.