[Michael] 3D Torus Asteroids

Working Title: 3D Torus Asteroids
Genre: Arcade shooter
Platform: Windows(/OS X/Ubuntu if time permits)
Developer: Michael Mara

My last game jam game was a space dogfight game taking place on a 3D torus (a finite cube, where when you leave through one face of the cube, you come back in on the opposite face). I successfully completed the game, but I think it was too complex of a game for a first attempt at using a non-standard topology. While playing my game, I (and many other people) noted that it was similar to Asteroids (except that you couldn't destroy the asteroids, there was another player you had to fight against, and it was on a 3D torus instead of a square torus).

For this game jam (which I won't be able to use a full 30 hours, and so I need to limit the scope) I am simply going to make a 3D torus version of Asteroids. That is, my game design document is:

Goals

My set game jam time is anywhere between an hour each morning for 4 days to the full 30 hours, so I will have to scale the scope of my game accordingly. Here are the different levels of completion:

Level 1 (Look ma, I made a game!):

• Spaceship flying around in 3 torus using controller*
• Render in 3 torus*
• Able to shoot*
• Asteroids exist*
• Rough collision detection between projectiles and asteroids*
• Rough collision detection between player and asteroids*
• Rough collision detection between different asteroids*
• Rough collision detection between projectiles and player*
• Asteroids and player have health*
• Game over when player loses all health*
• Sound*
• Asteroids disappear when at zero health
• Point system

*Already implemented in last game jam game, which I will cannibalize for code.

Level 2 (Respectable amount of work):

• Integrate a real physics engine (Bullet) for much better collisions (could take the whole game jam...)
• Have asteroids break apart into smaller asteroids when hit
• Some sort of effect when asteroids fall apart
• Real menu screen

Level 3 (Respectable game):

• Asteroids break apart in physically plausible manner
• Hyperspace jump (like original Asteroids)
• Enemy space ships (like original Asteroids)
• Particle system for explosions

Tools:

• G3D Innovation Engine server and heavy lifting on rendering
• Bullet Physics for the game's physics
• SVN revision control
• Photoshop for limited graphics
• 3DS Max for any potential need for modelling
• Google docs for designs and organization
• MSVC 2010 & gcc compilers and toolsets
• My last game jam game "Dogfight" as a solid base to work from