Terry Go Go
What is Terry Go Go?
Terry Go Go was a game I developed within the XNA framework on my free time at the end of my bachelor degree in Game Development.
At the start of my degree we coded a pacman clone, but now I wanted to redo it with knowledge and experience I gathered throughout my studies. But as the development progressed, I added more features of my own, and eventually I even made an editor where the players can create their own levels.
Apart from the ghosts, all the art is self made.
Features
Each level features the player walking around in a top-down manner similar to pacman. To complete each level you have to clear and collect a certain amount items. Be it either Stars or a Key & Lock. On the way, you have to avoid enemies and collect Power-Ups to progress.
Enemies
- The Blue enemies is the basic one. It walks in one direction until it hits a wall, where it turns and walk a random direction perpendicular, or does a 180 if it hits a dead end.
- The Blind enemies are much slower, walk randomly, and have no eyes.
- The Green enemies splits into two when killed.
- The Hunter enemies walks randomly, until they spot you and runs towards you. If they lose sight, they’ll go to the last spot they saw you at.
- Last, and also probably least, there is the Bomber enemy. They periodically placed out bombs which can damage you, but not other enemies or themselves.
Level 1
The first level sees the player trapped in a room. The only way to escape is to use the Bomb Power-Up. The Bomb destroys all adjacent tiles after a short delay and damages enemies, that are not a part of the outer border. The way the room is designed, wherever you place the bomb you will break free into a wider area.
The outer area contains:
- Blue and blind enemies patrolling
- Hungry Power-Up. This Power-Up let’s the player eat and destroy walls for a short while.
- Pink Stars. Collect all of these to clear the level.
The Hungry Power-Up is placed closed to the middle wall so that if the player Bombs in such a way that they can only exit on one side, they still have the opportunity to escape to the other side.
This level is on the easier side and focuses more on introducing the basics of the game.
Level 2
The second level takes place in a dark maze, and features now the Hunter, Green, and Blind enemies. Enemies are only visible through their eyes.
What’s to note here is that the Blind enemies are without eyes! Now the harmless enemy is suddenly the biggest threat, as they could be anywhere on the map.
To clear the level, the player has to find a key and its lock.
The start of the level introduces the Laser Power Up. It let’s you shoot small projectile at enemies to clear them.
Level 3
Level 3 amps up the difficulty by quite a bit. Not only are there tons of enemies patrolling, but it is also limited on time. You only have 2 min to complete this level. This level took the longest to create. Not only because of its complexity, but also through playtesting. Very few playtesters manage to complete it.
In hindsight, I should’ve removed half the Hunters and probably a few Green enemies. as them being on your tail is the hardest parts. Maybe a few Blue as well, as now many share the same paths.
Speaking of Blues..
The colored lines indicate a unique set of paths the Blues follow. The level was constructed in such a way that the player has extremely limited space where it’s somewhat safe, outside of the middle area. This is to keep them moving to clear the time limit.
Level Editor
The game features a Level Editor where you can contruct your own levels. All of my featured levels were constructed using this. It lets you choose if the level should be in complete darkness or not, your win condition, timers, where to place enemies etc.
It also has a check if a player and win conditions are placed out. But not if the level is completable otherwise.
