GA Autumn 2022 – Tempus Bob

GAME IDEA 

At the beginning of autumn we decided to create our own version of the classic arcade game Time Pilot. Originally the plan was to have 3 different levels set in different time periods, with a boss fight at the end of each one. By the end we ended up having one level with no boss fight, but a lot of other game ideas were fleshed out over time. 

Originally we didn’t have a very clear idea of how/if we were going to change the core gameplay. At a certain point in development we decided to change the feel of the game by adding changing difficulty based on how well the player is doing.  

The first thematic idea we came up with, and the only one we ended up implementing was the cyberpunk aesthetic. We decided on having a cityscape background almost right away. 

We wanted to keep the controls and enemies the same as the original game, and add new features on top of that. 

PROGRESS 

The selection process of which game to recreate started with combining all games and information/video in one discord channel, and through this channel each team member voted for the game they found most fitting to recreate. After we were done voting we had unanimously agreed on Time Pilot.  

We took our inspiration from Time Pilot, a 1982 arcade space shooter game. 

Proceeding to this step we’ve set up our first brainstorming session and gathered all ideas and content that we would like to see into a brainstorming chat on discord, we’ve set up weekly meetings and started working on the base mechanics of the game. Every week, we see the basic movement mechanic added, improved and optimized to our needs. On the arts department we started making the basic main ship, their bullets and then started adding enemy ships that just pass by. 

Lisätään kuva... 
Some (very) early concept art of the player and enemy ships. We originally intended on having multiple levels, but the idea was quickly scrapped. 

After our first meeting with Gareth, we were enlightened with good feedback and improvements needed for our game. We worked on adding enemy ship formations, followed color codes, added better UI, a scoring system that makes you feel more powerful and after the second meeting with Gareth we went even further with these elements such as saving high scores, difficulty optimization and more speed and power and satisfaction.  

Our weekly meetings helped each of us work on different aspects of the game without overlapping with each other’s work. As for the sound department, we were able to produce our own original menu music and some original self-made sound effects, some other sounds were taken from a free sound library website.  

The game gets pretty chaotic at max speeds with multiple enemy types and power ups. 

Finally, by the time all of these elements were combined, we were happy to announce the name of the game itself “Tempus Bob” named after our original forefather Tempius Bobius. We did not only connect to the game as our own creation, but we connected to the game as if it as our own child. Provided that the game brings joy to most players, we were happy to feel excitement when playing, we added an end screen with a teleportation animation which added the cherry on the cake, and the pepperoni on the pizza. 

We concluded our success by writing the report and bringing us to this sacred moment of the present where we all will remember this game as in the past, but the beginning of the future. 

TEAM 

Programmers: 

Niko Holopainen 

Joonas Järvinen 

Valtteri Kamppinen 

Artists: 

Joey Audi 

Aino Virtala 

Vuokko Lehtola 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *