Plan for J Lesko

Update: Joystick Johnny is now being developed as a full game!

Joystick Johnny Website



Well, I did it. I got a head start this week on the framework, but that took longer than expected and ate into my weekend. I didn't actually begin creating the mini-games until Sunday afternoon.

On average, each game took 25 minutes to create. Each game consisted of:

- hardcoded config: 30 variables for the game and 25 for each sprite class
- background image (400x250)
- player image (8x8) - variable frames, depending on the game type
- up to 4 "actor" images (8x8) that are used for enemies/pickups
- bullet image (5x5) for player
- bomb image (5x5) for enemies

These images are then scaled up in the game. At such a low resolution, it rarely took more than 5 minutes to finish the art. The framework is capable of doing basic animations, like 360 rotation, which is based on the movement type. The hardcoded configuration handled things like spawn boxes, reload rates, and some basic collision effects. Since the only record keeping was score and the win/loss conditions were predetermined for each game, it let me concentrate on what the game mechanics were to be -- the "fun" element, I guess.

The framework didn't allow for much more than games involving dodging, shooting, and picking up things, but surprisingly it was enough to introduce variety throughout all 24 games. Many of them are actually lite versions of popular arcade games (eg, Spy Hunter, Paper Boy). It's funny to think how simple these games are at the core and that it only takes a few minutes to recreate them. I'm beginning to think nearly all arcade games from the 80's are really all just Space Invaders variants.

Anyway, I still plan to continue on this. I'd like to make a more compelling metagame and introduce a couple more basic mechanics to the framework (like jumping) and maybe see what I can come up with if I shoot for 50 total games. Despite the restrictions, I still think I only scratched the surface and I'm looking forward to making more without any time pressure.

The list of mini-games:

Meteoroids
Rally Racer
Super Skeet
Star Defense
Gorilla War
Tank Attack
Moon Buggy
Slime Blaster
Olympic Skiing
Ninja Master
Space Invasion
Shark Hunter
Spy Driver
Dot Muncher
Quarterback
Chopper Rescue
Paper Route
Marble Maze
Boxing
Dark Dungeon
Missile Defense
Bartender
Diamond Caves
Robotroid