Who Doesn’t Love Fireworks?
I’m sure there’s a lot to argue as far as the SOUND of the fireworks, but the SIGHT is beautiful. I can’t think of anyone I know that says, “Fireworks? They look so UGLY!” Not to mention there’s something decidedly American about eating a lot of food and then blowing something up.
Although firing a bow in VR is a lot of fun in itself, I really had a specific goal in mind. I wanted to attach fireworks to the arrow so that you could shoot them at the zombies. Specifically, for the final hit on the zombie, I wanted the head to fly up and explode like a rocket. It’s finally working! You can watch the video HERE, or see it on the new Videos page. The newest video should always appear at the top. I think.
One of my favorite scenes from George Romero’s Land of the Dead is when they use fireworks to distract the zombies. The look of awe on their faces as they stare at the colored lights shows a flicker of the humanity that they have lost, and I love that. Seamus had a great idea of adding this as an additional zombie state where they are distracted by the fireworks, like in the movie. That’s the next step — thanks, Seamus!
What’s going on next week?
Above all, I would like to work out the bugs in the death animation. The game should detect which weapon was used to deliver the killing strike, then play the correct death animation. Right now this works perfectly with one zombie on the screen. Add more, however, and things get weird.
I’d really like to get Becky Sue involved! We haven’t seen her since the end of Week 1. In addition to being the game manager (giving hints and instructions), she’s also going to be tossing you ammo. If she’s overwhelmed with zombies, however, she won’t be able to do that.
Next, I would like to get at least one UFO power-up functional. The Alien Invaders will fly by periodically and try to help the zombies in some way. For example, one power they will use is a “time-ray” that speeds up zombies dramatically. You’ll need to shoot the UFO to stop it from helping them. Destroy the UFO and they drop that temporary power-up for you instead; in this case, the slow-motion boost. If you don’t prevent the UFO from helping up the zombie, you’ve got one crazy fast zombie tearing across the yard coming after you.
I also have an idea for a little surprise I’d like to hide on the roof, but I want to make sure I can get the other mechanics addressed first. I call him, “Grandad”.
Okay, it’s a machine gun.
Have a Happy and Safe July 4th, Everyone!
-Mario