VectorStorm Blog

I’ve noticed that when programmers get a new tool, like, say, a 2D physics engine, they tend to start creating games which are basically example apps for the new tool, with a constraint or a goal condition attached. So with physics engines, it’s not at all unusual to see these games become about moving boxes or circles around, either using the mouse or via an elaborately physics-simulated device of some sort.

There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, as long as the game’s fun.

But on reflection, those really aren’t the sorts of game I want to spend my time creating. The world already has enough “Behold, I have physics!” games without my adding to them. And it’s occurred to me that that’s exactly what Space Maze Express is, at its heart; it’s just another “move boxes around with physics” game.

I’m still going to complete it, as it’ll still be a great testbed for engine physics support. But in the same way that I promised myself that the next game I made wouldn’t have a time limit, I’m also going to try to avoid making “look, it’s physics!” games in the future.

So I’ll be doing another Game in a Week next week. And I guarantee that the goal of that game will not be to move a box from point A to point B.

Whoops, forgot to mention earlier;  I’ve updated the Win32 VectorStorm binary build with the Space Maze Express gameplay prototype.  It also has the overlay demo (mentioned in an earlier post) in the Testbed game slot.

So if you feel like experimenting with lifting boxes using only an Asteroids ship, there ya go. 

So there’s no maze yet, but I’m getting there.

This is a screenshot of an initial grappling testbed.  That’s the Asteroids ship transplanted into a world with gravity, and a rope attached.  If the rope’s end touches a box (or any non-static physics object, actually), it will automatically attach, and the player can fly it around.   Press the ‘A’ button to release the object.  As an initial testbed, it’s working pretty well, I think.

A key point in the implementation here is that the rope changes color, to show you whether or not it has connected to something.  Without that, it can sometimes be difficult to tell whether or not it’s managed to grab the object you want it to.