Goldminer is a 2-player arcade game that we developed in two and a half weeks.
Game Description
In the game each player controls one of the two dwarves. In the middle of the playing field
there is a mine in which there are gold and stone boulders, which the players can dismantle.
You can either harvest blocks in the mine or additionally steal them from the enemy’s tower.
The blocks obtained by mining or stealing can either be used to load one’s own cannon and shoot at the opponent’s tower.
Alternatively, if you have three blocks, you can run to the your own tower and increase it’s height by one row. A gold block is worth 50 points and a block of stone only 10. A round lasts two and a half minutes
During the game, random items are spawned which can also be stolen from the opponent’s side and disappear after ten seconds, unless they have been picked up by a player.
Graphic Design
For the graphical appearance of the game we settled to a low-poly look. All graphics were created and animated in Cinema4D.
The in Cinema4D modelled 3D-Bodies and their realistic shadow give the players the illusion that they move through a 3-dimensional space,
despite playing a game which only represents a 2-dimensional projection. Furthermore, we simulate a sunset by overlapping multiple images with changing opacity, which were rendered with different lighting.
Programming
The entire game was programmed in JavaScript using the box2d library, which is responsible for the dynamic physics simulation. Thus the whole physics of the cannonball and the tower seems very realistic and is adjusted in weight and flight direction.
Controller
Additionally, we designed two controllers with four buttons on each. Two arrow keys for moving the character left and right and an A- and B-button for interacting with the objects of the game world.
Inside the controller there is a MakeyMakey which processes the input of the player.
Subsequently, the controller and the buttons were 3D-printed.