Drone Zone is an infinite scrolling game which acts as a throwback to the old days of addictive internet games, namely “Helicopter”. The game was created in under 3 months in a team of two.

Our assignment required us to create a web game using HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript and the Phaser framework. It was also a requirement to incorporate online functionality and artificial intelligence into our game design. After pitching our idea and receiving feedback, we eventually landed on the idea of creating an infinitely scrolling game where gravity and obstacles are the players biggest hazard.

Set in a Dystopian future and trying to flee a city of Police drones which have gone rogue, the player controls a large, constantly moving drone, using it’s thrusters to counter the gravity pulling it down to Earth. Along the way, the city buildings become more dense, making it more difficult to navigate without exploding. Small Police drones attempt to fly themselves into the player’s drone in an attempt to stop it, requiring the player to avoid them while navigating.

The end product has three difficulty levels which the game automatically selects depending on the distance travelled by the player; the higher the difficulty level, the higher the speed and the more difficult the terrain becomes. Building types are randomly selected from depending on the current difficulty level but recycle the building objects for optimisation purposes at high speeds. Police drones are generated at set intervals and take aim at the player before flying at them, giving the player time to move. Phaser’s inbuilt physics engine is used for the gravity, the steam from the engines and the rain in the background. Once the player’s turn has ended and score submitted, the rankings details are updated on Firebase using JSON.

Many testing sessions were used for the project, allowing testers to leave quantitative and qualitative feedback to influence the game’s development. GitHub and Trello were used extensively, allowing us to collaborate with solid version control and stick to a clear project schedule.

All assets used to create the game were custom made, including sound effects, background music and animated sprites.

My role in the team required:

Documentation including Game Design Document and Technical Specification.
Organising and carrying out test sessions with participants, collecting feedback.
Creating and maintaining of project schedule via Trello.
Creation and maintenance of a website to host the game.
Creation of visual and audio assets.
Coding the game using Javascript and Phaser.
Simple enemy A.I.