PULSER
PULSER
The objective of PULSER is to move through a maze of lines without getting hit. However, pulser's color is constantly changing in synch with a musical beat. When his color matches that of a barrier, he is permitted to pass through it.
Along the way there will be many other tasks to complete.. monsters to shoot, items to pickup, secret upgrades to find.
Art mockups 1 & 2
Pulser was originally designed for a "72hov" contest -- given constraints at the beginning of a 72 hour period, come up with the best game you can. That entry may be seen here: [ old pulser ]
Prototype screenshot 1
A playable windows XNA2 prototype may be downloaded here: [ pulserxna-proto1.zip ] (2207K)
Not discussed in the design overview below is our concept for tying together levels--a weblike map which permits multiple courses from start to finish where hard levels may be skipped but returned to when upgrades are acquired. This is best viewed much like a schematic version of a castlevania or metroid map:
Worldmap mockup
Following is a braindump of design ideas and notes
Design Overview
- Move Pulser safely around and through the colored barriers to reach the jump gate.
- Match Pulser's color to the barrier's color to pass safely through it.
- The color of your ship changes to the beat of the music.
- Press the attack button in time with the beat to:
- Fire your weapon.
- Maintain your ship's size (or shrink it if it is oversized).
- Collect energy and earn points.
Pulser, Our Hero
Weapon
- Your weapon is a homing plasma sphere/beam.
- Upon striking an enemy, it is immobilized and consumed by the sphere.
- On the next beat (or another in-time criteria), it detonates, destroying the enemy.
Abilities
- When one of the energy meters is full, press the appropriate button activate one of Pulser's abilties.
- Pulser has two special abilities:
- White Point -- You are temporarily invulnerable against barriers and move faster.
- Careful use of White Point can open access to secret jump gates.
- Rainbow Crush -- You temporarily, automatically fire on every beat.
- When you deploy a Rainbow Crush, any already onscreen enemies are automatically targetted.
Color Meter
- Pulser has an onboard, radiant color meter that indicates:
- His current color
- His next color
- How much time until the next color becomes active
- An illustration of this can be viewed here.
Energy Meters
- Pulser has two energy meters: White and Rainbow.
- Filling an energy meter enables him to use one of his abilities.
Things to Collect
Energy
- Acquire energy by collecting special pick-ups dropped by defeated enemies.
- There are two kinds of energy, White and Rainbow. Each fills the corresponding meter.
- Collect 100 points of energy to fill an energy meter.
- Dot -- Worth 1 energy
- Star (Cross) -- Worth 5 energy
- Pressing the appropriate button when an energy meter is filled will activate a special ability.
Points
Things To Consider
Beat
- The beat of the background music is the pulse of the game.
- Every beat that goes by, if the player fails to press the action button, Pulser grows a bit.
- Levels may have a variety of beats, slow and steady, or fast and complex.
- Being able to keep time with the beat will maximize success.
Color
- There are four functional colors: Red, Green, Blue, and White.
- Pulser's color changes between Red, Green, and Blue.
- If his color matches an objects, he may pass safely through it.
- White objects are always lethal, unless the white point ability is active.
Things to See, Do, and Destroy
Galaxy
- The galaxy is a interconnected node network of levels.
- Reaching a jump gate in a level will open a new path in the network.
Levels
- Each level is an automatically scrolling environment filled barriers.
- Levels are synchronized with the background music and the beat thereof.
- All levels contain at least one jump gate.
- Levels may also contain:
Barriers
- Throughout each level are a series of colored barriers in varying configurations.
- A barrier may be breached if Pulser's color is the same as the barrier's.
- If Pulser's collides with a barrier of different color, he is destroyed.
Enemies
- Enemies are simple vessels travelling through a level, looking to harm Pulser.
- Functionally, an enemy's color is "white"; if Pulser collides with one, it means certain death.
- Enemies can be destroyed by your weapon.
- When an enemy is destroyed, it may leave behind energy.
- Some more advanced enemies may actually fire at Pulser.
- Enemy fire may be of any of the four colors.
- Some special enemies may also fire growth shots, which cause Pulser to spontaneously expand if hit.
Jump Gate
- Passing through a jump gate will complete the current level.
- If a level contains more than one jump gate, any beyond the first are considered to be secret exits to the level.
- Secret jump gates are much trickier to reach than a standard jump gate.
Pad
- Pads are special objects in levels that, upon Pulser touching them, cause a variety of effects:
- Boost -- Hitting this will temporarily accelerate the level, music, and beat.
- Sloth -- If Pulser collides with one of these, the level, music, and beat will decelerate temporarily.
- Growth -- Forces Pulser to swell to an uncomfortably large size. Keeping the beat will return him to normal size.
- Shrink -- Causes Pulser to becomes significantly smaller than normal. So long as the beat is kept, he will remain this size.
