Codename Slappy
So, I’m terrible at naming things, but I need to give this game idea a name so that I can refer to it in future blog posts. Slappy is a top-down 2D game that tries to emulate all of the things that I loved about the Left 4 Dead series.
Another Zombie Game
The hope is that this is not another zombie game, but I have not figured out what to replace the brain-dead zombies with. Each level will be self contained and will require the player to navigate the unsafe world until they find the “goal.” In Left 4 Dead (L4D) this was a safe house and reaching the safe house triggered the next level in addition to some details about your performance on the current level.
Procedural Generation
I plan on relying on procedural generation in several parts of the gameplay experience. The first and most obvious, is procedurally generated levels. The plan for each level is for it to last between five and ten minutes so that you can get in, knock out a level, and continue on with your day.
As part of the level generation, I will also be implementing a forest generation algorithm that will provide cover / hiding areas for enemy. Things within the forest cannot be seen until you enter the forest and even then you have only a limited range of sight. One fun challenge for level generation is developing the two algorithms so that they complement each other and provide a cohesive experience .
The last area where I can currently envision procedural generation is in the actual player experience. The L4D series ships with an AI Director which is responsible for creating enjoyable experiences for the player. The AI Director is designed to take into account the player’s abilities, current performance, position, mood, and tension to decide how many enemies to spawn, where to spawn them, etc. I plan on developing something similar because the AI of L4D has intrigued me for a very long time.
Other Details
The game will be developed in Java with the libGDX library and will be available on all major platforms (iOS, Android, Mac, Windows). This blog will host all of the major updates to the game until I decide on an actual name for the project and purchase the domain for it.