Testing, Thanks

Thank you to all those who came and took part in the testing event for Breakout: The Breakout on Monday, 18th of August. I hope that you all enjoyed playing the game and I really appreciate all of the feedback you gave.

Testing

The IOCT Masters Showcase Event at The Phoenix on Friday, 25th of July 2008 offered an opportunity to demonstrate the game and get feedback from players.

Feedback was extremely positive, with people staying to play the game for a while. Comments suggested that the game was interesting to play and once you had started playing you didn’t want to stop, and also suggested it would be better to play the game on a faster computer in order for the game to run slightly smoother. This is an issue I was already aware of and was just demonstrating the game on the laptop I have been using to code it on. Ideally, I would have demonstrated the game on a desktop computer, however, I did not have access to one during the event.

Other comments suggested that people liked the design of the bricks in the different levels, as I had created posters to show print screens of the different levels. People were keen to play the game and interested in how the object detection worked, asking about how the movement of the AIBO ball (used as I only had a limited space in which to demonstrate my work) controlled the paddle on the screen.

Sound

I have carried out some research into the use of sound in game and have decided to add sound to the game, to make playing the game a more interesting experience, as it involves more of the senses.

Times in the game that may benefit from sound:

• Ball and border collision
• Ball and paddle collision
• Ball and brick collision
• Brick explosion

Other times during the game when sound effects or music could be used:

• Losing a “life”
• Completing a level
• Congratulation state
• During the countdown
• Introduction to the game

State transition

Working from the initial state transition diagram that was presented in the project proposal and presentation, I coded eight states for the game. The states take the player through the game, linking one state to the next depending on the outcome of each game. For example, the game over state may lead to the enter high score state (if the score is greater than the lowest high score) or to the view high score state (if the score is lower than the lowest high score).

The states are:

• Initialisation
• Startup
• Countdown
• Playing
• Game over
• Congratulations
• Enter high score
• View high score