Features and Sources

Features of the game:

Core Functionality:

- Avatar moves (right) when action clicked - Avatar moves (left) when action clicked 
- Avatar stops when action clicked  - Avatar jumps when action clicked - Avatar reaches goal portal
- When the avatar collides with portal, show end-of-level UI (if implemented), wait for ~2 seconds, then move to next level. 

Extra Functionality:

- Avatar has different appearance when not moving, moving, and jumping.
- Life is lost when avatar is reset. Game ends when all lives used, shows end-of-game failure UI, then returns to title screen after a button is pressed.
- Levels contain bonus life pickups that can be collected and increase the number of lives by one.
- Sound effects for moving, jumping, and stopping; losing a life and collecting a life; bouncing on a bouncy platform; and reaching the goal portal.
- Music plays throughout whole game. Music doesn't stop or restart when level is changed (except for certain levels such as end level). 
- Testing Mode / Lindsay Mode. Can use the mouse to drag the avatar around the screen. When released, the avatar has no velocity. This can be accessed from the in-game menu, not the title screen. 

User Interface:

- Scene switcher between levels 1 - 10.
-  Title screen allows starting the game
- Three different difficulties: Easy, Normal and Hard. 

- In game UI: Lives remaining, level name, restart level button that also costs one life. 
- Start of level text: Display a message for 2 seconds containing the level number and title, and a brief description of that level's mechanics Doesn’t show when level is restarted due to avatar resetting (or restart button pressed). Uses Fade in and Fade out effect. 
- End of level text: Display a congratulations screen for 3 seconds after a level is completed
- Shows statistics about how many attempts were needed to finish the level, how long all attempts took, and whether the bonus life was collected. Fade in and out effects. 
- End of game stats: Display a congratulations screen after Level 10 has been completed. Show statistics for time taken, total attempts, and bonus lives collected. 
- Post-processing and time-scale: Start- and end-of-level UI presents the level behind in a faded/blurred fashion (or some other appropriate effect). Slight variation to specs here as I liked the visuals in most levels: Only the in-game menu stops time. There are however other mechanisms to prevent issues like enemies hitting into player or player getting destroyed after finishing the level. 

Level Features:

Level 1- Simple level with no modifications.

Level 2 - Kills the avatar, loses a life and restarts the level (after an approximately 1- or 2-second delay).  Uses a particle system when the avatar comes into contact with the deadly wall. 

Level 3 - Some platforms bounce the avatar when landed on. Uses a state change to show that a bouncy platform has been used (platform enlarges briefly)

Level 4 - Fire obstacles move along a predetermined path repeatedly. When level restarts, the moving obstacle(s) return to the same starting location each time.

Level 5 - Level functions with invisible platforms and obstacles. Some sort of rough indication where obstacles are (Rocks are slightly transparent and bouncy platforms particles are visible)

Level 6 - Level has low gravity and player moves slowly.

Level 7 - Avatar interacts with a lever to crumble an obstacle. Level changes appearance after being switched. Camera follows avatar in this level. Camera looks ahead of avatar's movement direction. Camera is correctly bounded within the level.

Level 8 - Multiple enemies that seek the player. Enemies change colour when near the player. Enemies have trails that change colour when near the player. Enemies explode when they touch the player and this resets level. 

Level 9 - This level follows the possum without it's mother goose. Level implements many of the features of the previous levels but all together, and is more challenging. Although introduced in a previous level, there are clouds with lightning that will destroy the player on contact, to demonstrate boundaries.  
When controlling baby possum, player buttons can now be pressed an infinite amount of times. Buttons are illuminated with flickering lights to indicate this. 
Buttons enlarge when clicked to show they've been pressed.  

Level 10 - Has a final boss (the dream bull). Boss throws out fireballs and player must push and use objects to progress through the level. Finishing feature is that boss must be defeated by dropping a rock on it. Lever mechanism to free mother goose from her cage.

Sources and Referencing:

Artwork:
All sprites, backgrounds and any other artwork was generated using Open AI's Dall-E 3 software [1]. 

Sounds:
All sound effects and music was obtained from Pixabay [2]. 

Use of A.I. Generative software
- All the visual components of this game. All backgrounds and sprites were created this way. 
- In many instances, using ChatGPT [3] to create an initial script for a particular feature, or to help with ideas for how a feature might be implemented. 
- To debug or make modifications to scripts. 
- Provide general advice on how to solve bugs / problems.  

Some examples of prompts I used for:
- Creating an image: "Make me a 2d pixel art sprite of a goose with a saddle. Must have a transparent background"
- Creating scripts for particular features:  "Make a script that will change the colour of an enemy as it approaches the player".  "Make a script that fades a scene out when switching scenes." 

In terms of scripting, it was rare that a script would achieve what I desired simply from an initial prompt. Usually, the A.I. software would write out a general piece of code which would point you in the right direction, and then this needed modifying, or further prompting.

Reference List

The reference list is very small for this game, due to the heavy use of DALL-E 3 for image generation and exlusive use of Pixabay for audio. 

1. Open AI's DALL-E 3 software. https://openai.com/index/dall-e-3/
2. Pixabay royalty free music and sound effects.  https://pixabay.com/       (Note: Any sounds or music tracks used in the game do not require attribution to the author / creator. )  
3. Open AI's ChatGPT software. https://openai.com/chatgpt/