Latest build here: PlanetDefense.pdx.zip (489.5 KB)
I was pretty inspired by the Starlight thread from Dustin, I felt why not share my experience with this first prototype.
I started this game idea in Unity twice, but with much bigger scope and much failure, originally from the LD46 game jam. I didn't finish even the basics because I got caught up in all sorts of deep rabbit holes and wasting time on things that didn't matter to the core of the idea.
As this is my first experience with LUA (and of course the playdate SDK!) I broke down the idea into a core nugget of an experience heavily associated with old arcade and simple games. The goal is to destroy enemies as they spawn and fly towards the planet while the character moves around the planet to shoot. This is a fitting concept for the crank and I hope I can make something interesting.
I first got my workspace setup on an old (and freshly revived) mac mini using the Nova beta. It was super easy to get setup compared to my attempts with windows and it's really great to have the simulator as I patiently await the dev kit delivery.
Hello World:
I followed a wonderful intro from the panic twitch page and managed to get some basic input and drawing working. My experience with p5js really helped here and so did the graphics API.
Core Mechanics:
I never had to dig into the logic of how to setup this player movement as Unity APIs helped do a lot of the work for me. So I looked up some information and wound up figuring out how to get my player to move around the planet.
Along with this simple movement, I set out to begin experimenting with different things to draw as the player.
New Features:
Alternatively, getting sidetracked by a nugget of an idea. I wanted to play around with the idea of things existing outside the screen. So I spent a considerable time figuring out how to "peek" a little further as a mechanic for the player who will be dividing their time shooting and moving around the planet.
Hopefully this is interesting, I'll try to update this thread with considerable milestones. For now, I need to figure out spawning enemies and having enemies move towards the planet.