BusterBros

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Description:

This project is a online multiplayer pvp platformer game inspired by games like Super Mario War and Jump 'n Bump.

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Goals:

Use these to help guide the features of this project.

• Simple code: Try to keep things neat and easy to read. As a stretch goal for myself I've been trying to keep my library dependencies to a minimum; this isn't strictly necessary, but I think it's a fun challenge.
• Quick to play: Players should be able to hop in and out on a whim. Think low time commitment (<= 5min)
• Collaborative editors: If you want to make a level (or possibly other things too) you should be able to do this live with friends just as easily as playing the game.
• Fun over all: I believe that games are more fun if you let them be fun. If something is unbalanced, broken, but fun, don't remove it; just allow it to be disabled / enabled or adjusted. I'd like to err on the side of creating a customizable experience rather than a specific one.

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Contribution:

I'm open to colaborating on this project for the most part. I mostly would like to stick pretty close to the project goals (at least on the main branch), but I can also be flexible.

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Hosting a server:

Here's some beginner / intermediate level instructions to get this bot up and running:

1. Install dev environment (I like VSCode).
2. Install Node.js on your system.
3. Create a directory on your system and put the contents of the project here
4. Open VSCode and use File > Open Folder... to open this folder.
5. Click Terminal > New Terminal.
6. Run the command npm init and take note of the app entry name (i.e. index.js), make sure it matches the js file in the root folder of the project.
7. Run the command npm install in the terminal to install the project's node packages.
8. Create a file called .env in the main directory (where package.json is located).
9. Edit this file and write PORT = followed by your desired server port (8080 works fine).
10. Type node . in the terminal, and hit enter to start the server.
11. To connect to the game, open a browser and type in your IP address followed by the port the server's running from (example: 192.168.0.1:8080).
12. Close VSCode or click in the terminal and press Ctrl + c to stop the server.

Note

• Only the server operator should need to perfor this set-up, all connecting players only need to do step 11.
• You will likely need to port-forward for other off-network players to connect to your server.

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How to play:

• Once you've completed step 11, you should see the game running.
• Type in your name at the bottom and click Join. This will spawn your player in the world and join the game if it has been hosted.
• Now you can click Host Game to start a muliplayer session. If you cliked host, the server will send your level to all connected players.
• Jump on other player's heads to squash them, last one standing wins!
• To reset the game, just click Host Game again
• The default controls are:
  • Move: ← →
  • Look: ↑ ↓
  • X: Jump
  • C: Place / Remove tile
  • Change tile: 1 - 0 or + -
  • Respawn: P

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Roadmap:

This is a loose set of features I think would support the goals listed above.

• Local multiplayer
• Clean-up tile storage (probably use a 2D array)
• Collab Level Editor mode (rather than having a seperate editor)
  • Edit / create levels with friends
  • Anyone can switch themselves between tesing and editing at any time
• Item pickups
  • Block pickups (assuming the player can't always place blocks)
  • Double jump
  • Speed up
  • Killer parry
  • Extra life
  • Throwable something
• Special tiles
  • Item blocks: Bump to get item
  • Telleporter / Doorways: Enter one, come out the other
  • Water: Low gravity & infinite jumps
• Moving tiles / platforms
• Animated tiles
• UI for loading saved levels
• Custom player sprite sheets
• Game modes:
  • Last one standing: Last one alive wins
  • Kill count: First to a set number of kills wins
  • Team battle: First team to set number of kills wins
  • Hoard mode: Fight waves of NPCs with your friends

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Have fun!