Gomi Hero

Inspiration

Inspiration for our game comes from the urgent need to address environmental issues and promote sustainability. We drew inspiration from real-world challenges such as pollution, waste management, and environmental conservation, aiming to raise awareness and inspire action through engaging gameplay. By gamifying the concept of environmental conservation, specifically the correct sorting of different types of waste materials, we hope to empower players to make eco-conscious decisions in their daily lives. Through an interactive experience, we aim to educate, motivate, and spark conversations about the importance of proper waste disposal and recycling practices for a cleaner, greener planet.

What it does

Gomi Hero is a puzzle platformer where the player plays as different colored trash bins. The game's mechanics aims to teach players about proper sorting of trash and its importance to environmental sustainability as well as inspire others to take initiative to clean the environment. The player must plant a tree at the end of the level further emphasizing the importance of environmental conservation. (The game works better in Chrome browser).

How to Play

You use the left and right arrow keys to move left and right. Press the up arrow key or the space bar to jump. If you collide with another trash bin, your color will change to match that bin. To defeat an enemy (Litter Critter), jump on it while matching its color. Blue bins defeat water bottles, green bins defeat tomatoes, black bins defeat broken light bulbs, and red bins defeat syringes. If you jump on an enemy with the wrong color, you'll lose a life. Collect coins along the way until you find the magic seed. You can only plant the seed once all Litter Critters are defeated, signaling the end of the level. Enhance your performance and advance your way through the level with powerups that help you defeat Litter Critters!

How we built it

We utilized the Flame game engine, built on top of Flutter, as the foundation for our project. GitHub served as our collaborative platform for codebase management and version control. Our primary integrated development environment (IDE) was Visual Studio Code.

Once the concept was fleshed out, we carefully selected and prioritized game mechanics. Adopting an agile development approach, we organized our work into weekly sprints. During each sprint, we identified key features, divided development tasks, and began implementation. Testing was conducted continuously throughout the development cycle, including dedicated time for play-testing. Weekly meetings provided an opportunity for reflection on the development process and strategic planning. Additionally, we actively sought and considered user feedback, iterating on our designs and mechanics to create an engaging and enjoyable gameplay experience

Our development practices emphasized readability, maintainability, and scalability, with an emphasis on quality coding standards. We embraced an object-oriented approach, leveraging hierarchical code structures to promote code reuse and facilitate maintainability.

Challenges we ran into

As none of us had prior experience with Flutter or Dart, embarking on this project presented a significant challenge. Learning the language and familiarizing ourselves with the APIs proved to be a steep learning curve. Developing an effective collision detection system was particularly demanding, requiring meticulous attention to detail to ensure smooth player movement within the game scene. Additionally, adapting the game camera to accommodate various screen sizes presented its own set of obstacles. With some of us being new to Github, version control was another major setback leading to hours of work getting lost during the development process. Lastly, integrating widgets while constructing the UI posed yet another challenge that we diligently worked to overcome.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud that we developed a working, finished product in time. Also, we are happy that collision detection is working perfectly and has also been optimized by using culling and object-oriented design principles. Another accomplishment we are proud of is the art and UI that both come together to make a beautiful gaming experience.

What we learned

During the process of developing our game, we embarked on a journey filled with valuable lessons and discoveries. One of the most significant takeaways was the profound understanding of teamwork dynamics and collaboration. We realized that effective communication, mutual respect, and clear delegation of tasks were pivotal in ensuring the smooth progression of our project. Through constant interaction and feedback exchange, we honed our ability to work cohesively as a team, leveraging each member's strengths to overcome challenges and achieve our goals.

Furthermore, our deep dive into the Flutter and Flame frameworks broadened our technical expertise and proficiency in mobile game development. As we navigated through the intricacies of these frameworks, we uncovered several functionalities and tools that empowered us to bring our creative vision to life. From implementing fluid animations to optimizing performance, we gained hands-on experience in leveraging Flutter and Flame's capabilities to build fun and visually appealing gaming experiences.

What's next for Gomi Hero

Looking ahead, the future of Gomi Hero, brims with exciting possibilities as we embark on enhancing its gameplay experience.

Our foremost objective is to introduce more captivating power-ups that enhance the player's abilities and aid in defeating enemies. By integrating these power-ups into the game mechanics, we aim to elevate the level of engagement and offer players a dynamic gaming experience.

Additionally, we envision expanding the game with new levels, each featuring unique challenges and a diverse array of new trash enemies to conquer. We'd like to add a compelling narrative arc for Gomi to uncover the bigger picture and the reason for his mission. There are several opportunities for educational elements that we would like to also take advantage of.

With these ambitious plans in motion, Gomi Hero is destined to evolve into a captivating and multifaceted gaming rarity, captivating audiences with its innovative gameplay mechanics, educational enrichment and engaging storyline.