For the past week I have been expirementing with Java Games development and have created a prototype Applet game which I have named "PunchOut". PunchOut Demo Page! The game idea comes from the Arcade/Boardwalk/Carnival game Wack'a'mole. It's a little different in design since there is more that you can do with a computer game that you can't quite do with the arcade version. The current version still needs a lot of work. I'm very open to opinions suggestions, bug reports and other fine tunning ideas, including any marketing tips. That being said the question I really want to ask is about NAME and THEME? I need to get a list of themes that would be appropriate for this type of game and also a name that would go along with that theme. Current Ideas For Theme:

• Factory Settings (Blocks as pistons or something similar) Blocks as a mechanical device that might get out of hand and you have to knock them down or back into place before the boiler explodes or the machine overheats or breaks.
• Wackamole Theme (frogs, pararrie dogs :P whatever) The blocks become frogs or jack rabbits or some other small animal perhaps even change and when they pop out at you you have to hit them with a mallet.
• Butterfly Catcher (not neccessarily butterflies) Idea that something is poping out at you and you can catch it by click on it. I would invision something like bees popping out of a behive and a net or glove coming by and swipping them away.

Just some of the bugs that are currently being resolved. Current Bugs:

• Images do not always load prior to the game starting
• Concurrent Modification Exception (occurs rarily and stalls the program)
• Minor Exceptions are occasionally thrown (does not effect program)
• Does not pause when not active

If you don't have any ideas then you can just let me know what you think of the prototype. [Edit] P.S. Anyone whose idea I choose to use and that are different from those I have already thought of will get their name, site, or personal advertisment in the credits on both my site and the game itself! Just maybe a little incentive.

Fun time waster there :)

Although, once about 1/2 to 2/3 of the blocks are gone, the remaining blocks only 'come up' sporadically. A guess would be that you're picking randomly from one of the 100 blocks, and not adjusting the range for only the remaining blocks. Also, what's the lightning for?

Also, when a block is getting large, the collision box does not change from the original size. It feels odd when you know you hit the edge of the block, yet it does not register a hit. Was this intended?

Quote:

Original post by Naxos Fun time waster there :) Although, once about 1/2 to 2/3 of the blocks are gone, the remaining blocks only 'come up' sporadically. A guess would be that you're picking randomly from one of the 100 blocks, and not adjusting the range for only the remaining blocks. Also, what's the lightning for? Also, when a block is getting large, the collision box does not change from the original size. It feels odd when you know you hit the edge of the block, yet it does not register a hit. Was this intended?

Yeah definitely was intended to be a time waster as that is what the project it self is for me.

Random Block Poping:
I did originally have the blocks randomly choosen from the list of 100 blocks. I noticed the problem as well and made a separate list of the remaining blocks although it didn't seem to eliminate the problem. I am still investigating that in the code.

Collision Detection:
When I was creating it I did not feel it neccessary to check the collision of the current size of the popping block. Because I knew that there might be some design changes or image changes along the way that would make that part of it obsolete. Still. that is something that I would like to flush out with this post.

Lightening (or Streak):
Is just a visual representation of the streak count. The streak count adds one every time to hit a block and subtracks 5 everytime you click and miss a block. Everytime you hit a block the streak acts like a bonus to your score adding the streak * 5. Each lightening image indicates you have that many multiples of 5 so basically the number of lightening images is streak / 5. Once you get greator than 30 streaks it's reset to 0 and 100 points is added to your score.


Design Questions
1) So, for consistency with the appearance would it be better to change the collision detection to encompass the current size of the block. Alternately, from a gameplay perspective is it better to keep it so that you have to click within the original size of the block, making it more difficult to stop the block from hitting you?

2) Does the scoring between the different bonuses make sense? Is there anyway I could make the meaing of the streak more intuitive.

3) I was thinking of adding in bonuses and a life meter. The life meter pretty simple just descreases when you fail to hit a block in time. That way I could add bonuses after a block has been destroyed which would regenerate health. Or make blocks that do different amount of damage. What types of Bonuses do you think I could add?