So I set out to do just that.

The theme for this competition was "the only way is up", and it occurred to me that it would be a good excuse for me to write a clone of Stacker. Stacker is a really annoying real-life arcade game that taunts you with prizes like iPods, PSPs or Nintendo DS's at the measly cost of $1 per play. I spent about $5 on it one time, and thought that I should clone the game in order to give me a chance to practice for the arcade. So I took this chance to write Slacker, which is my clone of Stacker.

My entry page can be found here, where it chronicles my early-morning vacation adventures, as I started the game and got it roughly playable before breakfast, and then as we were driving around in the car going from breakfast to the zoo, and then to the mall, I was able to sit in the back seat and add the final touches. When we got to the mall, I was able to find a wifi connection and upload the final entry shortly before the deadline.

All told, it was a really fun day of coding. Jennifer helped me out a lot by doing all of the graphics. I think I probably spent around 3-4 hours on the project, and was able to create a complete game from start to finish.

The best thing about the project was having a clear design (clone of an existing game), and having a small and realistic scope. I never would have been able to finish in that amount of time if I wanted to have a game with complex animations, lots of art, a storyline, cutscenes, quests, items, or other such things. I made a simple action/puzzle/twitch game, and that helped a ton.

So even though I'm pretty pleased with being able to create the game, there are some things I would have liked to change to make it better.
I would have liked to package it for Mac and Windows, so that users don't need to have Python and Pygame installed.
I would have liked to add some sound to engage the player and make it easier to time your key hits.
I would have liked to make it so that the game doesn't exit when you lose, but rather restarts so that you can try again. That would help make it easier to play and deal with the frustration of the high difficulty level.
I would have liked to add a more interesting reward for winning the game -- right now it feels kindof flat.
It might have been nice to add different difficulty levels, but the way it runs right now feels *very* close to the real arcade game.

So yeah. It was a very fun exercise to write a complete game in just a few hours, but it was only possible by choosing such a well-scoped project. It's nice to take my own advice every once in a while though, and start small before working one's way up (after all, up is the only way ).

If you're interested, feel free to download the game and give it a shot. Thanks for reading!

--clint

[This message has been edited by HanClinto (edited April 10, 2007).]

Great game. I find it amusing that you finished coding it in the back of a car and found someone's wifi connection to upload it.

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My Programming and Hacker/Geek related Blog

As far as your game goes, it is the one I like the most (really). This is definitely like the games that I like to play though.

I couldnt get on the site until late in the comp, so I never registered, but If i did, you'd get my vote. Can you fix the game so it replays when you loose ? ? ?

quote:

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Originally posted by kenman:
I couldnt get on the site until late in the comp, so I never registered, but If i did, you'd get my vote. Can you fix the game so it replays when you loose ? ? ?

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Wow, for comments like that, no worries at all! Here's a fixed version with the feature that you asked for:
Slacker: Version 2

I tried it out, and I think our suspicions were correct -- it certainly makes it more enjoyably addictive.

Thanks so much for the feedback!

In Christ,
clint

Your game is too challenging. it won't let me stop playing until I beat it!

Cheers!

--clint

* Game no longer quits after losing, but restarts automatically (this was in the last update)
* ESC exits
* Added animations for showing falling blocks that are missed
* Updated graphics for consistency
* Added a more fun and rewarding win screen to congratulate the player
* Tower is shown after win/lose so that you can see how you did
* Packaging is now supported for Mac/Windows (though haven't yet gotten Mac binary under 20 megs)

I also was able to make an animated gif of a typical gameplay run that looks kindof cool.

Downloads:
Windows EXE
Multi-platform Python source-code

The only major thing that's left that I want to add is sound.

Cheers!

--clint

Can't get further than that, you need pure luck to go beyond

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Check my libraries (C# assemblies):
http://calinnegru.googlepages.com/downloads