Saving some frames by throwing a canvas at drawImage()

My next project is to be a maze game. I’d already ditched the idea of recreating a Gauntlet style romp through multiple dungeons because I wasn’t happy with the behaviour of the monsters. Getting stuck on walls and bunching up to block an open doorway was driving me mad. That’s when I started HyperGunner. Two [...]

Spy Hunter homage almost complete

Spy Chase, my Spy Hunter inspired arcade game, is motoring along and very nearly complete. I finally got around to adding guns and missiles to the game which for me was a vital final piece of the game’s design. I think I balanced the action pretty well so that the player, with a little skill, [...]

HyperGunner – collision detection improvements

Something that I should have paid more attention to with the development of HyperGunner was the collision between the player’s starship and the alien’s bombs. During the more intense battles it’s not uncommon to see the player trapped within a mess of bombs with very little room to move. The problem was that the collision [...]

HyperGunner update

I’m in the final stages of tidying up my new frantic shooter HyperGunner. I’ve loved putting this game together and thoroughly enjoyed playing it. It’s a huge step closer to creating something in the mould of my favourite manic shooters – Ikaruga, Don Pachi, Esp RaDe et al. I still have concerns with the collision [...]

HyperGunner – not much more to do

So I thought I’d share the link. http://www.wilfscorner.co.uk/sandpit/hypergunner/ (development version) About 80% complete. Some more sprites to create and a few more backdrops but essentially the core game is in place. Feedback welcomed.

HyperGunner – new screens

Lots of colour. Lots of action. Chaos ! I love it.

New game – old game: HyperGunner

I’ve been very busy this last few days turning Wizard Wars in to a vertical scrolling shooter. It was very easy. Some things cropped up en route that I thought were worth a mention. When I designed Wizard Wars I made sure that the pipeline was simple. That is, I define the images and animation [...]

How Galaxians changed my life

Something I always wanted to write up but never really worked out the right approach for was how and why I became interested in making these simple / crude / amateurish JavaScript based games. To get the full picture we have to go back to some time around 1980 / 81. As a young boy [...]

Lesson #1 – Frame rate / canvas / HTML5 and iPhone

Writing a simple arcade game for a handheld device (and even then to be executed through a web browser) is quite different from the luxury of writing for the desktop. Not only do you have to consider the scale and colour of everything but you have to be careful with just how much you throw [...]

new iPhone game – Wizard Wars

During the crafting of my Gauntlet-esque game I lost some motivation. The issue of rotation vs collision took its toll. I needed something to just jump in to so that I could get a game completed. It’s hugely frustrating for me not to finish something once I set my mind to it. So I took [...]