Bomb Dodge [Current Version: 0.2]

Hello there. I'm guessing you're interested in this little project of mine. Well, here it is: my brainchild. This game is what I consider to be the quintessential video game, for many reasons. If you so choose to hear what I have to say on the subject, click the spoiler below.

Spoiler for:

When you tell someone the word "video game," usually the first thing that comes to mind isn't Halo 3 or the new Final Fantasy or any of that. Usually it's games like Pac-Man, Space Invaders and Pong that have withstood the test of time and continue to have a strong fan base today. To me, one of the most important factors of a game is longevity. The ideal video game would be consistently played, a game that would not be boring after a while or non-replayable due to the fact you already know what happens in the storyline. These days, game development companies focus more on innovation and taking a bunch of steps forward in graphics and CG cutscenes and such. What they fail to realize is that true innovation focuses on simple, addictive gameplay.

And that is what this game is to me. It is a simple game, but not frustrating at all. As there's no artificial intelligence killing you, no traps or anything, the only thing you can be frustrated with as you play is yourself. And when you get frustrated with yourself, you try harder and harder to improve yourself. Bomb Dodge encourages improvement over AI discouragement, which is something a lot of games lack, and something they will most likely continue to lack as the years go on. And so I make this game to try and show people that complexity is not always better.

This is my masterpiece.

This is Bomb Dodge.

Anyway, lemme fill you in a bit on how to play the game, as I did not include any help files or anything (it doesn't even have a title screen yet). Basically, your objective is to collect as many of the silver, defused bombs that fly at you as you can without touching the red, harmful bombs. To do this, simply press Space to dodge the red ones, then release Space to fall back into the line of fire. For every silver bomb you collect, you receive one point. However, if you let a silver bomb go past you as you're dodging, you lose a point. Any red bomb that touches you loses you a life. When 3 lives are taken, the game is over.

I made this in about an hour total work time, so it's likely to be buggy. Please be harsh with me, tell me every problem you see and suggest things I could do to improve this game. It's still in its beta stages, so it has a long way to go.

And with that said, play and enjoy!

Play Bomb Dodge 0.1

Amazing. Totally true to the original!

Like I said, facelift. Also, it seems a bit easy. I like the simplicity, but you need to vary the speed of the launches every so often. Also, try throwing in the odd bonus item or two.

Bomb Dodge 0.2 is now complete! Here are the fixes to this current version:

- The bombs have been made bigger, and therefore less disorienting to the eye. Also, the black bombs are now silver.

- A progressive difficulty feature has been added, so that bombs come at you closer together as you go further and further into the game.

- The background has been changed to a dark blue to better contrast the new bomb colors.

- Sound is added! Now you'll hear a click when you collect a silver bomb, and a beep when you get hit by a red one.

- Music has also been added! I used a silly song I wrote to fit the happy and energetic mood of the game.

And that's about all! Enjoy this latest version of Bomb Dodge, and as always I am completely open to criticism.

Very nice work! There are a few problems that will inevitably occur if you don't change some things though. Talk to me in IRC.

That was very fun. May I suggest bombs on top and bottom in the next version?

YES, THAT'S WHAT I WAS FORGETTING. Make the bombs change trajectory! Sometimes they come out of the top instead of the bottom. Totally do what he said.

The only problem is that the game mechanic, where you lose a point in score when you miss a silver bomb, makes losing points inevitable.

Oh Man ZYpher this rocks!