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Joel Martínez Arjona edited this page Mar 10, 2025 · 18 revisions

Design

Narrative Structure

Journey of the Prairie King takes players on a journey through the Wild West, where the Prairie King must battle his way through hordes of enemies to get to his fiancée.

Level Analysis

The game is divided into 13 distinct rooms, each carefully designed to increase in difficulty and challenge. Every room offers a unique layout and enemy configuration, ensuring that the gameplay remains dynamic and engaging throughout the adventure.

Room Breakdown:

  • Rooms 1-4:

    • Objective: Introduce basic controls and enemy types.

    • Enemies: Orcs, Ogres and Spikeballs with predictable movement patterns (except Spikeballs).

    • Power-Ups: Basic upgrades such as rapid fire, basic boots and bullets.

  • Room 5 (Boss Room):

    • Objective: Challenge a cowboy and fight him across a river.

    • Boss: A cowboy attempting to escape the Prairie King.

      • Has 50 HP, and he shoots the player until he runs out of bullets. After that, he hides behind a fence (the player cannot shoot through it) to reload and shoot again.

    • Mechanics: The cowboy attacks from side to side while using a wooden wall for cover.

  • Rooms 6-8:

    • Objective: Increase the intensity with more enemies, along with faster movement.

    • Enemies: Introduction of agile enemies like Evil Butterfly, Mushroom.

    • Power-Ups: Enhanced weaponry, speed boosts and bullets.

  • Room 9 (Boss Room):

    • Objective: Challenge the earlier cowboy and fight him across a river again but more difficult.

    • Boss: The same cowboy, now more relentless.

      • Second fight against the Cowboy. Has 100 HP, and he shoots the player until he runs out of bullets. After that, he hides behind a fence (the player cannot shoot through it) to reload and shoot again.

    • Mechanics: The cowboy attacks from side to side using a wooden wall for cover, but he is now faster, running and shooting at the player.

  • Rooms 10-12:

    • Objective: Prepare players for the climax by combining faster enemies with slower ones in greater numbers.

    • Enemies: Introduction of Mummies and Imps.

  • Room 13 (Boss Room):

    • Objective: Face the final boss, Fector, to acquire the Pure Heart, which is needed to gift it to the Prairie King’s fiancée.

    • Boss: Fector, a vampire-like boss who seeks to use the Pure Heart to extend his life.

      • Has 350 HP, can fire directly at the player, or in eight directions as with the Wheel power-up. As his health decreases, he starts summoning enemies.

    • Mechanics: There are no movement restrictions in this stage, and it's more challenging than the Cowboy. Fector can fire directly at the player or shoot in eight different directions. As his health depletes, he begins summoning additional enemies to overwhelm the player.

Gameplay Mechanics

Core Mechanics:

  • Twin-Stick Control:

    • One stick (or set of keys) handles movement while the other (or the arrow keys) independently aims and fires in any direction.

  • Enemy Interactions:

    • Enemies spawn in waves, each with unique behaviors. Standard foes follow simple paths while advanced enemies may exhibit faster attacks.

      • Orc: Has 1 HP and walks slowly towards the player and spawns in large numbers. Appears in Stage 1.

      • Spikeball: Has 2 HP (7 HP once deployed) and, when it enters the area, walks to a random location to deploy into an armored spikeball that damages the player on contact. Appears in Stage 1.

      • Ogre: Has 3 HP and walks slowly and destroys spikeballs on contact. Appears in Stages 1 and 2.

      • Mushroom: Has 2 HP and walks quickly towards the player (has the same speed as the player without speed upgrades). Appears in Stage 2.

      • Evil Butterfly: Has 1 HP and flies towards the player, avoiding any obstacle. Appears in Stage 2.

      • Mummy: Has 6 HP and walks slowly towards the player and spawns in large hordes. Appears in Stage 3.

      • Imp: Has 3 HP and flies towards the player, avoiding any obstacle and ignoring the Gopher or the Tombstone power-up. Appears in Stage 3.

    • Collision events trigger the death of the player and visual effects (e.g., sparks, explosion animations).

  • Friendlies Interactions:

    • Gopher: Has infinite health, drawing them towards it and killing them on impact. Does not harm the player and cannot be killed by the player. Disappears after it has fully crossed the screen.

  • Power-Up System:

    • Types: Speed boosts, rapid-fire upgrades, bullet damage increases, special items with unique effects, and extra lives.

      • 1 Coin: Increases the coin amount by one.

      • 5 Coin: Increases the coin amount by five. Appears less than the 1 Coin.

      • 1-Up: Increases the life count by one.

      • Coffee: Increases movement speed for 16 seconds.

      • Heavy Machine Gun: Increases the fire rate for 12 seconds.

      • Screen Nuke: Instantly destroys every enemy on-screen, but they don't drop items.

      • Shotgun: Shots three bullets at a slower rate for 12 seconds.

      • Smoke Bomb: Teleports the player to a random location and stuns the enemies for 4 seconds.

      • Sheriff Badge: Increases fire rate and movement speed, and causes three bullets to be fired at once in a cone.

      • Tombstone: The player becomes a zombie for a brief amount of time, granting increased movement speed and the ability to kill on contact. Enemies flee from the player. Lasts about 8 seconds.

      • Wagon Wheel: Causes the player to shoot in eight directions at once for 12 seconds.

    • Function: Collecting power-ups enhances the player's offensive and defensive capabilities, offering strategic advantages.

  • In-Game Store:

    • Allows players to spend collected coins on permanent upgrades or extra lives.

      • Boot 1: Permanently increases movement speed. Costs 8 coins.

      • Boot 2: Permanently increases movement speed, more than the Boot 1. Costs 20 coins.

      • Gun 1: Permanently increases bullet speed. Costs 10 coins.

      • Gun 2: Permanently increases bullet speed, more than the Gun 1. Costs 20 coins.

      • Gun 3: Permanently increases bullet speed, more than the Gun 2. Costs 30 coins.

      • Super-Gun: Applies the effect of the Shotgun powerup permanently without the fire-rate debuff. Costs 99 coins.

      • Ammo 1: Increases bullet damage by 2. Costs 15 coins.

      • Ammo 2: Increases bullet damage by 3. Costs 30 coins.

      • Ammo 3: Increases bullet damage by 4. Costs 45 coins.

      • 1-Up: Costs 10 coins.

      • Sheriff Bandage: Costs 10 coins.

  • Event Handling:

    • Spawn Events: Timed and situational triggers that introduce enemies and power-ups.

    • Collision Events: Detect interactions between the player's projectiles, enemy hits, and environmental obstacles, leading to consequences like player death or enemy destruction.

Controls

The game supports keyboard configurations, ensuring a smooth and intuitive gameplay experience:

  • Keyboard Controls:

    • Movement: W, A, S, D keys to move the player in any direction.

    • Shooting: ↑ ← ↓ → keys control the direction of the player's bullets.

    • Power-Up Activation: Space bar to use any collected power-ups. If the player already has an item in their inventory and picks up a new one, the latter will be consumed.


Note: The design details outlined here aim to create an engaging, balanced experience that challenges players while rewarding skillful play. All gameplay mechanics and level designs are subject to iterative testing and refinement as the project progresses.

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