The reason for re-inventing the wheel here is to arrive at what is smallest delta of interaction(s) to be added to sustain a player’s attention to play. COVID lockdown time got me wanting to make an open world RPG that feels like Dawn of Zombies. The gameplay could be developed by adding goals. The first one being getting the character to a reach location. By stopping player from movement in certain scenario, goals can be established on where one can move and where they need to get to/reach.

P5Js allows designers to get what they want the computer to do very quickly on a browser without having to write a lot of code, bypassing the plethora of syntaxes and not having the uber-important skill of debugging. I have attempted the code in object oriented programming so that coding and making alterations to game itself doesn’t burn me out.

The classes defined in code should be a close reflection of how we perceive reality and how we react to it. Contexts need to be built or defined like making a character move around and do things—mapped from basic human interactions. Once defined, rewarding experiences can be notched up a few levels and translated in the gameplay. If not directly translated, metaphors can be explored to create and peak interest. The current code needs cleanup as well and this being work in progress, needs to be made scalable and introduce newer game mechanics from first principles.

References

[1] Beyond Designing for Motivation: The Importance of Context in Gamification (Richard, Thompson & Graham, 2014)

The last image contains a few DOS games I had coded in QBASIC in my earlier years. The first one was a X and 0 arcade game. The following ones were side scrolling role playing game which requires player to collect a key and get to the door.