Days Are Numbered TECHNICAL REPORT Adam Kearney [email protected] Declaration Cover Sheet for Project Submission SECTION 1 Student to complete Name: Student ID: Supervisor: SECTION 2 Confirmation of Authorship The acceptance of your work is subject to your signature on the following declaration: I confirm that I have read the College statement on plagiarism (summarised overleaf and printed in full in the Student Handbook) and that the work I have submitted for assessment is entirely my own work. Signature: ___________________________________ Date: ____________ NB. If it is suspected that your assignment contains the work of others falsely represented as your own, it will be referred to the College’s Disciplinary Committee. Should the Committee be satisfied that plagiarism has occurred this is likely to lead to your failing the module and possibly to your being suspended or expelled from college. Complete the sections above and attach it to the front of one of the copies of your assignment, - 1 - What constitutes plagiarism or cheating? The following is extracted from the college’s formal statement on plagiarism as quoted in the Student Handbooks. References to “assignments” should be taken to include any piece of work submitted for assessment. Paraphrasing refers to taking the ideas, words or work of another, putting it into your own words and crediting the source. This is acceptable academic practice provided you ensure that credit is given to the author. Plagiarism refers to copying the ideas and work of another and misrepresenting it as your own. This is completely unacceptable and is prohibited in all academic institutions. It is a serious offence and may result in a fail grade and/or disciplinary action. All sources that you use in your writing must be acknowledged and included in the reference or bibliography section. If a particular piece of writing proves difficult to paraphrase, or you want to include it in its original form, it must be enclosed in quotation marks and credit given to the author. When referring to the work of another author within the text of your project you must give the author’s surname and the date the work was published. Full details for each source must then be given in the bibliography at the end of the project - 2 - Penalties for Plagiarism If it is suspected that your assignment contains the work of others falsely represented as your own, it will be referred to the college’s Disciplinary Committee. Where the Disciplinary Committee makes a finding that there has been plagiarism, the Disciplinary Committee may recommend • that a student’s marks shall be reduced • that the student be deemed not to have passed the assignment • that other forms of assessment undertaken in that academic year by the same student be declared void • that other examinations sat by the same student at the same sitting be declared void Further penalties are also possible including • suspending a student college for a specified time, • expelling a student from college, • prohibiting a student from sitting any examination or assessment., • the imposition of a fine and • the requirement that a student to attend additional or other lectures or courses or undertake additional academic work. - 3 - Table of Contents Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................................... 5 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 6 1.1 Background ...................................................................................................................... 6 1.2 Aims ................................................................................................................................. 6 1.3 Technologies .................................................................................................................... 7 2 System .................................................................................................................................................. 8 2.1 Requirements ................................................................................................................... 8 2.1.1 Functional requirements ........................................................................................... 8 2.1.2 Data requirements .................................................................................................. 17 2.1.3 User requirements .................................................................................................. 17 2.1.4 Environmental requirements .................................................................................. 17 2.1.5 Usability requirements ............................................................................................ 18 2.2 Design and Architecture ................................................................................................. 18 2.3 Implementation ............................................................................................................... 20 2.3.1 Player Object .......................................................................................................... 20 2.3.2 Level Generator Script ........................................................................................... 24 2.3.3 Day/Night Cycle Object .......................................................................................... 27 2.3.4 Slimer Enemy Object ............................................................................................. 28 2.3.5 Shooter Enemy Object ........................................................................................... 30 2.4 Graphical User Interface (GUI) Layout .......................................................................... 32 2.5 Testing ............................................................................................................................ 34 2.5.1 User Test – Robert Dillon ....................................................................................... 35 2.5.2 User Test – Eamon Coleman ................................................................................. 36 2.6 Further Developments .................................................................................................... 37 2.7 References ..................................................................................................................... 38 3 Appendix ............................................................................................................................................. 39 3.1 Project Proposal ............................................................................................................. 39 3.1.1 Objective ................................................................................................................ 39 3.1.2 Background ............................................................................................................ 40 3.1.3 Technical Approach ............................................................................................... 41 3.1.4 Technical Details .................................................................................................... 42 3.1.5 Evaluation ............................................................................................................... 43 3.2 Monthly Journals ............................................................................................................ 45 Executive Summary Days are Numbered is a 2D action survival game built in the GameMaker engine. The game is designed to give the user a new experience each time they play due to the randomly generated levels. Because of the unpredictable nature of the game it forces the player to master the mechanics of the game rather than memorizing levels and patterns like you would with many other games. Some of the main features in Days are Numbered are as follows: • Randomly generated levels that will increase in difficulty as the game days’ progress, this will increase the replay value of the game as the levels will be unpredictable and change each time you play. • Day and night cycle that will change elements of the game, it will be more difficult for the player to navigate the level at night as their view will decrease when it gets darker, this will encourage the player to be more cautious when it becomes darker. • Large selection of weapon and item types, weapons will spawn randomly on the map as the game progresses the chances of better weapons spawning will increase. • Multiple enemy types that will get increasingly difficult as the game progresses, the speed and damage values of enemies will also increase as the game progresses. Harder enemy types will appear more frequently as the game progresses. The games setting takes place after a mysterious virus infects most the population and turns them into mindless monsters, you take the role of a survivor whose goal is to survive as many days as possible, you must defend yourself and scavenge for food to ensure you don’t die of starvation, every journey will differ and none will be easy. - 5 - 1 Introduction 1.1 Background The game industry is an industry that is constantly growing, in 2014 there was an estimated 206 million euros in revenue from Ireland alone. Within this growing industry is a growing trend, this trend is indie video games. In the past, almost all video games would require