Freddie the Fish

FREDDIE THE FISH

A project developed that reflects and integrates game design theories, computing concepts and media techniques using the java language, following a model-driven architecture.

Tools: Processing, Adobe Illustrator

OVERVIEW

Freddie the Fish is an arcade game that integrates three types of fun: challenge, sensation and fantasy.

The objective of Freddie the Fish is to survive the obstacles in the ocean to bring Freddie home to his sea anemone! The player is a clownfish and uses the arrow keys to move up, down or forward. As each level advances, the player will be challenged with more obstacles that will decrease the health if collision occurs. To earn health back and increase score, the player must eat the algae randomly placed in the ocean.

DESIGN PROCESS

The concept derives from one of my favourite childhood movies. Quick sketches show what the player would see during game play with sketches of characters that were later created in Illustrator. Prior to developing a UML diagram, I categorized each object in its own class for a clear organization of relationships and implementation. 

FINAL REFLECTION

The most difficult challenge I came across was achieving an accurate hit detection/collision of the character. Because of the inaccuracy that was affected by the speed of the character, it challenged me to learn how to visually test the location of the hit detection area by drawing out the shape. By doing so, I realized that the simultaneous movement of the character and scrolling background affected the location of the hit detection area which helped me solve the inaccurate hit detections.

Given more time, I would create a more changes to each level such as different background music to set a different mood for the player rather than having each level look alike so the player can differentiate between levels.