Blade of Valor

Main Menu
Game Play
Game Play

Inspiration

Blade of Valor:: Simplified Timer Version:: retains the core inspiration from Grimes' Player of Games and the surreal, mythical tone of Legend (1985). This version focuses on delivering a fast-paced, stripped-down experience where players race against the clock to collect as many orbs as possible in a single level.

What it does

Blade of Valor is a streamlined 2D platformer where players tackle a single, intense level teeming with darklings and obstacles. The objective is simple: defeat enemies, collect as many orbs as possible, and race against the timer. This version focuses on quick, high-intensity gameplay sessions while retaining the core challenge. After one full playthrough, the game ends with a fade-out. Players can refresh the page to replay and aim for a higher score.

How I built it

Phaser 3: Handles all game mechanics, visuals, and physics for smooth gameplay.
Simplified Timer System: Tracks the remaining time, with the game automatically restarting when the timer runs out.
Frontend Deployment:
- Amazon S3: Stores game assets for reliable and scalable access.
- Amazon CloudFront: Ensures fast and secure asset delivery with low latency.
- AWS Amplify: Powers deployment, hosting, and updates for the frontend.
JSON for designing and configuring the levels, making updates fast and scalable.

Challenges I ran into

Fine-tuning prompts for Amazon Q: While Amazon Q was helpful in some areas, I had to rework prompts a lot for it to understand niche parts of game mechanics.
Creativity and level design: Learning how to use Tiled for building the map was a challenge, especially since AI tools struggled with designing unique, fluid platformer levels. The map I built has its flaws but offers more fluidity than anything I got from AI tools like PartyRock.
Phaser 3’s code-heavy nature: Working with Phaser 3 required extensive custom coding to implement mechanics, visuals, and animations. Maintaining consistency in gameplay, especially with animations, felt like playing Jenga—adjusting one element often caused others to break. While Phaser 3 is lightweight and versatile, its lack of automation meant I had to build many features from scratch. Unfortunately, with the specific stack I used, finding resources or guidance was challenging, as not many share the "secrets" of making everything work seamlessly.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

This is my first completed game, and I’m proud to have brought such a unique idea to life.
The backend initially featured two Stockfish AI playing against each other—and I had it working! However, I chose to omit it in this version to focus on consistency and quality.
I built the entire Phaser game starting from a boilerplate, navigating the challenges of its code-heavy framework and overhead.
Leveraged AWS CloudFront to deliver assets efficiently and lighten the repository with this favorite piece of code:

  export const getAssetUrl = (path: string) => {
      const CLOUDFRONT_URL = process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_CLOUDFRONT_URL;
      if (!CLOUDFRONT_URL) {
          throw new Error("CLOUDFRONT_URL environment variable is not set");
      }
      return `https://${CLOUDFRONT_URL}/${path}`;
  };

What I learned

How to solve problems creatively, like optimizing prompts for Amazon Q to get better results.
This was my first hackathon, and I learned that having big ideas is great, but time is the most important factor in deciding what you can and can’t do.
Even with AI tools, having teammates is essential. Developers need other developers to share ideas, collaborate, and divide the work.

What's next for Blade of Valor

Reintroducing backend functionality, such as leaderboards and advanced mechanics, in future iterations.
Expanding levels and challenges to create a richer player experience.
Reintroducing the dialogue I worked very hard on in Party Rock
Exploring deeper integrations with AWS to further optimize hosting and gameplay features.