XNA Gamer An indie Game Dev blog.

Game Autopsy : bloc

Welcome to the first Game Autopsy. In this feature my aim is to pick apart a game that is up on the Indie Game channel not in the sense of whether it’s a good game or not but to try and look at what it’s doing both from a developers point of view and that of a player. The first game that I’m going to look at is bloc written by Nick Gravelyn. Bloc is one of the first games to make it on the the channel and as such should be one you’re familiar with.

Game Concept

Bloc is a new twist on the top-down shooter. Destroy blocks by firing like-colored orbs while dodging a swarm of enemies.

You play a circle that can fire four coloured shots in four directions denoted by the coloured segments of your circle. You can rotate the player object so that you can fire your colored shots in any four directions.

Your aim is to destroy the colored blocks that travel across the screen with out being touched by them, you lose a coloured segment if you get touched by a block and die when all four of your segments are lost.

There are three power-ups in single player mode, a shield, a regenerate lost segment and a super shot that will destroy any color bloc. Also in co-op mode there is an extra power-up to revive a lost teammate.

Implementation

• The Game seems to use the game state example code but it has been modified to the point that it is unique to the game.
• The game logo animates on to the screen the first time the main menu loads but not on subsequent loads.
• Glyphs and text direct the user through the menu system.
• The player object movement and  rotation is smooth.
• When color assistance is switched on the lettering on the player object remains in the correct orientation when rotated.
• If the player object moves up to the top of the play area the HUD data becomes transparent so as not to interfere with game play.
• Segments seem to be removed based on the side of the player hit not by colour.

Menus

The menu system is rather deep and gives you an idea just how many things you’re going to need to write on top of your game code.

• Play Game
  Open new menu
  • Casual
    Start game in easy mode
  • Challenging
    Start game in normal mode
  • Gauntlet
    Start game in hard mode
  • Back
    Close menu return to the Main Menu.
• Play Co-Op
  Opens new menu
  • Co-Op Lobby
    From here up to four players must select what segments they will control as part of a two person team.
    Next the Game makes a call to the Glide interface if there is only one user logged-in for you to select another local user.
    Once all the users are signed in,  you can select your game difficulty from the next menu Casual, Challenging or Gauntlet.
    Game play is the same as the  single player but that extra power up now reserects your team mate.
• High Scores (disabled in trial mode)
  Lists the local high scores for the three single player modes and the three Co-Op modes.
• Help & Options
  Opens new menu
  • How To Play
    Runs through an “interactive” tutorial on how to play the game (can not be quit once started).
  • Controls
    Displays an image  of what the controls are.
  • Options
    Opens new menu
    • Music Volume
      Standard  +/- control starts at 70%
    • SFX Volume
      Standard  +/- control starts at 70%
    • Color Assistance
      Puts the button name on the respective segments and coloured blocs as a visual que
    • Vibration
      Enable/disable vibration on the players game pad in game.
    • Particles
      Set the amount of particles used when a bloc is destroyed (Normal/Extreme)
    • Back
      Close menu return to the Help & Options menu
  • Credits
    Lists the people responsible and their jobs  in making the game.
  • Back
• Unlock Full Game (only in trial mode)
  Opens the glide  menu to pay for and download the full version.
• Return to Dashboard
  Close menu return to the Dashboard

As you can see even from such a simple game the menu tree is big and with the exception of maybe one option they are all expected by a player.

Note:- on the subject of do you really need an Exit option in the menu, I’m with nick, yes you do don’t ask again.

Control

Controls  can not be reassigned.

• Left thumb stick :- player movement
• D-pad :- player movement
• Right thumb stick :- N/A
• A :- Fire green shot from green segment
• B :- Fire red shot from red segment
• X :- Fire blue shot from blue segment
• Y :- Fire yellow shot from yellow segment
• LT :- Rotate circle left
• RT :- Rotate circle right
• LB :- Rotate circle left
• RB :- Rotate circle right
• Back :- Show Hi-scores (Disabled in Trial mode)
• Start :- Pause Menu

For what I think of as for “use-abilities” sake nick has mapped the same commands to multiple control inputs like the left analog stick and D-pad both move the player and the bumper bars and triggers both rotate the player, when the action gets frantic you’re not going to hit a button that does nothing. Apart from that the controls are laid out in a way that a gamer will pick up the basics for movement straight away because they are the same as any other game.

Sound

There are two sound tracks, changeable by clicking the right thumb stick on the main menu, a hint to this is given at the end of the “interactive” tutorial.

Unique sounds are used on each of the following events

• Firing a shot
• Shot hitting the play boundary
• Player object bumping into play boundary
• Shot hitting the wrong bloc type
• Shot hitting the right bloc type
• Rotating the player object left/right

Menus are silent.

Trial Mode

On top of the time limit the Nick has disabled the high score screens.

Game can be purchased from :-

• Main Menu
• High Scores Screen off the Main Menu
• Pause Menu

No up-sell  on exiting the game.

Conclusion

The game is highly polished, and professional, with good game play.

Let me know what you think of this feature, good or bad, in the comments.