Shovelball: A VGDC Game Jam game

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Overview

Two shovel-wielding kids try to knock as many soccer balls as they can into each other’s goals. Designer and programmer for VGDC UCI’s 2016 Winter Game Jam as a part of the Shovelball team.

Jan. 2016
Producer, designer, gameplay programming, game physics, character controls, character state machine, debugging.

Github – https://github.com/tkwon09/Shovelball

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WIP!

Introduction

Shovelball is a game made for UCI’s Video Game Development Club’s 2016 Winter Game Jam. The idea is to hit balls across the stage with your shovel into the opposing player’s goal, following the theme “you can never have enough”.

Spooder-mans gave me a good idea of how to make platforming fun
Vertical soccer?

Platforming

Used ground normal to modify movement acceleration.
Friction
No double jump!?
Wall-jump

Ball Control

Hit angle determines direction = simple one button attack command.
Balls lock to 8 directions.
Balls fly straight. Slight delay on impact to give players time to react.
Balls that are “flying” can transfer their momentum to other balls, causing them to fly.

The Level

Reward controlling the middle – easy to get knocked off.
Protect goals from simple straight-shots.
Trampoline in the center to concentrate action in the middle.

Conclusion

Platforming was fun.
Hitting the ball was not satisfying enough.
Players felt it was a little too random.
Getting goals was satisfying.
Needs more to extend mechanics.