Eggy's Games

Let's have a look at the making of my game - Break The T.V

Now this game may be old but I'm actually still quite happy with it. This game had one main goal which was to create a chain reaction of events that ultimately lead to breaking the TV. I set out to achieve this goal in a simple way, and I believe I did so. I used to make chain reactions as a kid with my friend with stuff we found around the house and I always loved it, so that's what inspired me to make this game.

Main Idea and The Gameplay

The real challenge was when I was making this in Flash I didn't have access to physics engines back then like we do now. So all physics need to be pseudo faked if you don't feel like studying years of math. So you can fake these with basic gravity added to balls falling down and then adding to them when they hit things like springs. This still holds up pretty well today. The ones that are more noticeable are things like dominos, I just put a simple fall animation.

Overall I end up with about 8 objects. Falling rock, dominoes, missiles launching, a gun firing, conveyer belts and cannons. The main complexity with this was that each thing had to interact with another. So every time you added an object it got more and more complex for coding. An example of this was, what can set the gun off? a domino can, but can a rock? or a cannon? So you have to keep it tightly bound otherwise things can spiral fast.

Main Take Aways

Usually with older games I have a lot of regrets, but weirdly with this one I don't. The game was made within the confines of what I had available, it may not have turned out perfect but it did the job.

The art style is also a clever way of making things really simple. I took normal objects like a gun, put the white tint to max. Then gave it a black outline. This way you can take your existing art and simply transform it into the silhouette style needed for the game. It's an old art trick I use often.

The game was also partly used to inspire my game Bouncy Egg later on. You work within a framework to have one simple goal and add things to it making it harder each level.

Re-Make Possible

I think this game would definitely do well in a remake in Unity. I would simply use a physics engine this time around and have the player stack all sorts of fun stuff to finish the chain reaction.

There is so much potential here for a remake it's ridiculous. I don't blame anyone for stealing that idea and re-doing it in Unity. It would work.

The game was also sponsored by my friend Marty Wallace. A long time friend that has supported me and we remain best friends for over 15 years. Thanks Marty for sponsoring it.

Hope you enjoy playing it, and if you're a developer it's definitely a good blueprint to make your own chain reaction style game. My personal favourite is the gun being set off by dominoes.

Breaking the TV itself was inspired by old school N64 games like crash bandicoot that featured that.

Hope you enjoy a 15 year old game for a throwback play - Breaking the TV