Joey Kapusta

Gameplay Programmer

Lumina

Play Lumina View the code

Summary

This is an action game for the web, using JavaScript and Canvas. It was heavily influenced by the spellcasting of Magicka, and the base development concept in Kingdom. This prototype includes element-behavior spellcasting, where you chose the spell's elemental damage rune and its behavioral rune (ex. fire-bolt or earth-grenade), which combine to form one of nine current spells. You use these spells to combat hordes of enemies, which spawn based on the current biome. Within each biome, you are trying to fight your way to a waystone to unlock teleportation between that point and the tower base to allow further progression. All spells and some scenery objects have lighting effects, and spells have lit particles. The game is currently completed by unlocking the waystones for every biome.

My Contribution

I coded the entire UI framework as a reusable JavaScript module. This module allows you to create UI elements with child elements, set the layout, styling, and behavior of each element, and update the elements at runtime, all with simple control functions and JSON parameters. Text elements accept special characters within the text field, like line breaks and variables, which can be set to automatically update as the game runs. There are also special elements that have automatic behaviors, like status bars that fill based on the tracked variable you pass to them. The UI also supports custom buttons with mouse events, set by passing a function pointer to the button object. It all works sort of like a cross between CSS and JSON objects. I also coded all of the game logic directly related to the UI, like the tracking of the currently selected spell, to be displayed both as a string and icons on the HUD. One other programmer coded the gameplay mechanics, and we worked with one artist and one designer. We also used my UI framework in Leap of Faith, another of our web games.

Moving Forward

I like where this game is going and would be willing to continue the project. The game turned out very pretty, and the UI framework works well. The current prototype had a positive reception, and the full design seems promising. We intended to make each biome contain a temple with a boss battle that would unlock new spellcasting capabilities. The tower would be upgradable, allowing for new facilities to enhance your existing spells and to craft consumables and gear. Resources for these tasks would be gathered by hunting enemies and harvesting their magical components. I feel this magical progression could be fun and compelling, and nothing about the framework would prevent us from making these mechanics. We would just need the time to continue expanding upon what we have.