Table of Contents
I.
Overview
II.
Game
Mechanics
1.
Overview
2.
In Game GUI
4.1. Turning
4.2. Speeding up and Slowing down
4.3. Jumping
4.4. Movement Based on Upgrades
6.1. Picking up Objects
6.2. Running into Objects
7.
Levels
1.
Enemy AI
2.
Motion
IV.
Game
Elements
1.
Power-Ups
1.1. Longboard
1.2. Shortboard
2.
Characters
2.1. Ollie
2.2. Teachers
2.3. Students
V.
Possible
Future Improvements
2.
More Enemies
3.
More Levels
3.1. To the First Class
3.2. To Get Books
3.3. To the Second Class
3.4. To Lunch
3.5. To the Third Class
3.6. To Sleep
3.7. Bonus!
SKATE or FAIL is an action skateboarding game. The player controls Ollie McFlop, a student at Harvey Mudd College, as the game takes him through an atypical day at HMC. When Ollie wakes up late for class in the morning, he must rush to make it on time. Following his first class, Ollie must navigate his way through his hectic day and make it to all of his classes with the appropriate books, which Ollie forgetfully left at various locations on campus the previous evening.
A player’s score is determined by how quickly he can navigate Ollie to his destinations at each step of his journey. Failing to get to class in the allotted time will result in Ollie failing all of his classes. This means waking up again to relive his day.
SKATE or FAIL is a 2-D action game similar to classic NES games such as Paper Boy and Back to the Future. SKATE or FAIL is different, however, because it is not a constantly side-scrolling game. Instead, the scrolling is player-initiated. The game mechanics are designed to allow the player limited movement of Ollie and pseudo-realistic physics, which combine to imitate a real skateboarder.
The majority of the player’s window will be taken up by the view of the Harvey Mudd College campus, with the player’s character centered on the screen. In addition, at the bottom of the player’s window, the player’s current score and time remaining on the current level will be displayed.
The player has control over Ollie in much the same way that a real skateboarder has control over their movement. The controls are designed for use on a Windows computer with a standard keyboard. The player can turn Ollie right and left, speed up, slow down, and jump. Turning is done using the right and left arrow keys, speeding is done using the up arrow key, and slowing down is done using the down arrow key. Jumping is accomplished with the spacebar.
When Ollie is on the ground, the player can move Ollie left and right in the game-world. Left and right are always relative to the current direction Ollie is moving; they are not relative to the sides of the screen.
When Ollie is on the ground, the player can cause Ollie to speed up or slow down. Speeding up can be done until Ollie reaches his maximum speed, and slowing down can be done until Ollie stops. Note that slowing down doesn’t cause Ollie to begin moving in reverse. To move in the opposite direction from where Ollie is facing, Ollie must turn around using the turning controls.
When Ollie is on the ground, the player can make Ollie jump. This will suspend all side-to-side motion until Ollie is again on the ground. Jumping will appear in a projectile fashion, to make the game appear realistic.
While Ollie is skating from his origin to his objective, Ollie may encounter upgrades to his riding equipment.
Note that Ollie can only have one upgrade at any given time. If Ollie finds a new upgrade when he already has one, the new upgrade will replace the current one.
Ollie can ride on any paved surface. Ollie cannot ride through buildings or over grass. If Ollie tries to ride or jump into a building or onto grass, Ollie will fall off of his board. The physics incorporated into the game will be the forces of gravity and drag (air resistance). This causes Ollie to jump in a trajectory identical to projectile motion with air resistance.
If Ollie runs into an upgrade, then Ollie’s inventory is updated, and Ollie continues skating. If Ollie previously had a different upgrade, then the features associated with the previous upgrade will disappear and be replaced by the features specific to the current upgrade.
If Ollie runs into an object that is not an upgrade, such as a building, grass, or obstacle (various students, professors, lawnmowers, hoses, etc.), then Ollie falls off of his skateboard. Ollie will be unable to move for a specified amount of time, depending on what object he ran into.
There is only one level in the game. Future versions may have more.
Enemies in the game, such as teachers and other students have different reactions to skateboarders. Students will run and flee. Teachers will meander about, but if you get too close they’ll be attracted by Ollie’s impertinence, and try to trip him up. Neutral obstacles do not have AI, as they just sit there.
Beyond reactions to Ollie, characters in the game will have fairly randomized behavior patterns, thus there is no AI involved in the movement beyond immediate reactions.
There are various power ups for the player to pick up to affect their abilities in some small way.
Collecting a longboard would add Ollie’s speed and possibly make turning more difficult.
The shortboard has the opposite effect of the longboard, making Ollie more maneuverable but slower.
In addition to our busy hero, there are numerous ne’er-do-wells frequenting the Mudd campus, all bent on making a failure of poor Ollie.
Our hero on the skateboard, controlled by the player.
Big, slow, and smart. Teachers will seek out Ollie and attempt to learn him good.
Small, fast, and stupid. Students walk from place to place in a random way, though if Ollie comes near them they will flee.
There are several objects in the game that neither help nor attack Ollie. However he still must avoid them. Colliding with buildings, trees, grass or hoses will cause Ollie to fall and lose precious time.
A big project such as this needs to be taken in pieces. Therefore, many of the hopes and dreams for SKATE or FAIL have been allocated here, to the “if we have time” section.
Dirt board, roller blades
Ambulances, Lawnmowers and Pumpkins, oh my!
Different scenarios for Ollie to get himself through. Current ideas include:
The first level is going from South (the dorm in which Ollie slept on a couch last night) to Thomas-Garrett for an early morning recitation. It’s very early morning, so only a few students are awake.
The second level takes Ollie to a friend’s room in WEST where he left a book the previous evening. It’s an hour after Ollie’s first class, so the walkways are more crowded.
After getting his book, Ollie must hurry down to Galileo where he has a mid-morning lecture. F & M has decided to wash some dorms and has strung hoses up across some of the pavement.
After morning classes, Ollie is feeling very hungry. But so are many of the other students. There is a rush to get to Platt for lunch, and Ollie must navigate his way around professors and students to get his midday meal.
After lunch, Ollie has an afternoon seminar class in Olin, the farthest academic building. As students with no class crowd the path, Ollie must make it to class on time so maintain his academic standing.
Ollie heads back to his dorm, Linde, after a long, busy day to get some rest. Linde is the farthest dorm from the Academic side of campus, and since everyone is done with class for the day, they all seem to be walking around!
Possibly an off-campus bonus level