Min_Rocket
Min_Rocket was a group project in which we were tasked with creating a game under significant limitations. We were to develop a game for the Figment, a fictional handheld device that had only three buttons and four colors, all of which were shades of green.
Use your main thruster to approach asteroids and melt them apart. Break them down into resource units, pick them up, and sell them at the station.
How much money will you make?
Why I like it
Like any kid, I loved spaceships growing up. As I grew, this love didn’t change. If anything, it got worse!
Min_Rocket is inspired by the game Lim Rocket, created in 2006 by the legendary DAN-BALL. In high school I could play this game for hours. The simple mechanics and challenging gameplay loop made for a perfect time killing puzzle game.
For Min_Rocket, we decided to use a similar movement system. The player may only rotate the ship and fire the main thruster. Using only these mechanics, they must navigate and manipulate the world to earn points.
Min_Rocket is a satisfying experience and was a joy to work on with my team!
What Was Challenging
Everyone on the team had some difficulty to work through that I’m proud of us for overcoming.
Our sound technician worked tirelessly to provide a system that would allow us to play sounds of variable length.
Our artist was up against figuring out a way to make the flame particles of the spaceship flow and move with physics as the ship rotated.
I myself, as the team’s programmer, was tasked with creating a system that would mimic the flip-and-burn style movement of Lim Rocket. Working closely with vectors, forces, and physics objects, we were able to finally work out a system that feels quite good!
It was a group effort all the way!