Headmaster Disaster

No need for popular games! Headmaster Disaster is a video game meant to showcase the possibilities of content creation. Explore, learn, create and share imagination in a creative community!

Comment

I have worked on Scratch games in the past, but when I wanted to make a browser game, I was lost. I had used JavaScript and HTML before, but only for simple text-based projects. So I searched and found a tutorial.

I found this tutorial, and followed through their code:

A Platform Game

Once I understood how making a browser game worked, I found out that it was still similar to how Scratch worked. Classes were used for everything, but worked like sprites and backdrops. With this in mind I created new classes and new kinds of levels.

I first made a map-based level, used for exploration and the hub world. Then I worked on adding new arrow keys for the combat/puzzle levels. I followed the same format of the tutorial's code, but I had created something entirely different.

Once I had the gameplay, I added other aspects, such as dialogue and animations. I kept my animations as simple as possible, as I only wanted for everything to work out, and improvement could come later. For walking sprites I drew the arms, legs, body, and head of characters separately. Because of this, I could distort the initial idle sprite to make new sprites for jumping, attacking, and walking. I had often drawn arms and legs in separate parts in my Scratch games, to have knee and arm joints, but that made characters look stiff. I decided to use the warp tool in FireAlpaca to make sillier but more dynamic poses (without having to redraw each sprite).

However, when I wrapped up my first version of the game, and sent it to some of my peers, it didn't work out so well. It was ignored, or people didn't understand how to play. After I had spent multiple months working on this project, I started wondering if it was worth it. I got minimal feedback and didn't know what to do next. I took a break from the project, but then realized that I couldn't give up. I decided to make my game more intuitive for players, adding an in-game tutorial. There is always room for improvement.

Now I am reaching out again, but I know that I will always have to keep working on this project. Taking breaks are good for recharging and rethinking ideas, but there will always be things to be changed in a game or any project. I have enjoyed working on this project, and I hope you will enjoy playing it. This is just a snapshot of game development, and there are many more games that people have worked hard on to bring their creative ideas to life. There are so many possibilities, all we need to do is explore and get inspired.

Here are some other great resources I used for making this project:

Find other Independent Games:

Built With

Share this project:

Updates