DCSC's Coding Conundrum Winter 2018!

You'll be changing a Javascript platform game....

try the game here

Here we have a tiny rectangle that can move about rectangular platforms, collecting rectangular gold and avoiding rectangular monsters.

Now download this repository/code and unzip it somewhere

Here's a quick overview of how it works, the rest is up to you

platformer.js: this file holds all of our code. Here are two sections we suggest you focus on...
- GAME CONSTANTS AND VARIABLES
- UPDATE LOOP
level.json: this contains the actual level layout of the game, including where monsters are, tiles, and gold. Feel free to ignore this file!
fpsmeter.min.js: ignore this, it lets us show the fps

How To Run Your Own Version Locally

If you notice, simply opening index.html won't work in most browsers and that's because it's misguidedly trying to protect you (silly Chrome).
In order to get around this, we need to host a simple server
- If you already know how to do this, great
- Otherwise, the quickest way is to use this simple chrome extension
  - launch the chrome extension/app
  - select this folder (the one containing the code/game), and click the link it gives you
  - Awesome, now you're running your own server! -- you'll need to refresh the page whenever you make some changes to the code
  - You should be able to play the game on your own computer now, if not ask one of the DCSC officers for some help

Some Ideas/Challenges!

Change the gravity
- Hint: look at the GAME CONSTANTS AND VARIABLES section in platformer.js
Change the speed
Make the player purple
Change the controls (no more arrow keys 😁)
Break the collision system
- Extra challenge: do this by changing only one number/word
Change the scoreboard/system
Make the player invincible
Change the tile colors
Change the level layout (new platforms 😎)
Add some music!
ANYTHING YOU CAN THINK OF

You could even play something like this upon winning the game

Help, I Broke It

You can always re-download the file(s)
Ask a friend/DCSC officer for help

More Background

NOTE: We suggest you save these for later as it might take some time to read through but feel free to take a look now if you're curious or confused.

read the original development article
read the follow up article about adding monsters and treasure

License

MIT license.