Battle Pods Progress

October 2, 2005 06:34 PM

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I’m working on completing my Battle Pods game for my final project.

I spent this week primarily figuring out the basic gameplay and creating some prototype controllers that I can use while I’m developing the game. For now there are no pods or pod bays. That will come later after I fiigure out the best way to deal with pod recognition.

Basic Gameplay:
Each player will have control of 3 pod bays and 3 (or more) pods that can be moved between the bays. Once both players have placed their pods in the desired bays the players choose a move for each of their pods. Each pod can perform one of six possible moves per round: Attack 1, Attack 2, Special, Defend, Recharge, or Support.

Attack 1: Inflicts a single damage point against the pod in the attacker’s 1 position. Attack positions are relative to the pod’s positions, so moving a pod will change its attack targets. If the attack target defends, the attacker loses an energy point.

Attack 2: Inflicts two damage points against the pod in the attacker’s 2 position. If the attack target defends, the attacker loses two energy points.

Special: Each character has a unique special move that usually requires support from one or more neighboring pods.

Defend: Defends against single and double attacks. If a pod defends when there are no attackers he loses an energy point.

Recharge: Adds one energy point. Single attacks do not effect a recharging pod, but a double attack will negate the recharge and inflict two damage points as usual.

Support: Support another pod during its special attack. Each pod has a support direction, so by moving the pods their support can target different pods.

Players choose a move for each pod by selecting the desired move on a dial and pressing a Select button. For now each player only has a single dial, but eventually it might be nice if each pod has it’s own dial.

Once all the pods have been given a move, battle can begin.
The software evaluates all the moves and displays information based on the outcomes:
“Pod 1 attacked Pod 4 and inflicted two damage points”
“Pod 2 attempted to attack Pod 5, but Pod 5 defended. Pod 2 receives 2 damage points”
etc.

Technical Stuff::
I built the temporary controllers out of some small 35mm plastic slide boxes, rotary switches and buttons. The switches go through the IPac keyboard emulator to send key commands to the computer. Eventually I would like the knobs and buttons to be attached to a larger controller with the three pod bays on top. The knobs will be on the front, facing the player, so the opponent cannot see which moves have been chosen.

Software was created using Processing. Currently the software can receive input from the controllers and display which pods performed which moves, but I haven’t figured out how to evaluate two opponent’s moves and determine the outcome. Next week.

Still to Do:

• Pod recognition (find a hardware solution).
  Currently considering RFID, barcodes, or the strange metal-strip switching system used in the first Battle Pods iteration.
• Finish software.
• Figure out game story
  (what the characters will be and why they are fighting).
• Create pods out of those characters.
• Play game to see if it is fun :)

Files:
Download Source Code (Warning: Sloppy!)
Download Source Code + Graphics

Project: Battle Pods | link

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