The Physics of Fun -- Week Ending 14 Apr

Chain reactions in Last March of the Dodos are awesome! The engineers have implemented the ability for players to combo Dodos from trap to trap. This includes everything from the physics of knocking the Dodos throughout the game space, allowing them to be hit with successive traps as they flop around, and keeping track of increasing score multipliers with each trap collision--until they finally come to rest and poof out of existence. With just the physics of some of the traps alone (the mine, for example), it's a blast to send a group of Dodos flying in every direction, and then to watch them bounce around the environment like ragdolls. Other enjoyable scenarios we've discovered include shooting a Dodo with a cannonball so that the force carries it up and off a ramp into space, luring Dodos with bait up a ramp so that they fall onto a mine as they drop off the end, and simply watching them repeatedly run into player-positioned walls until they figure out they're solid and adjust their course.

The individual features involved in these reactions will, of course, require a hefty amount of tweaking to make the experience as fun as it can possibly be. At the moment, the force of many collisions is on the high side, so it's somewhat difficult for a player to precisely calculate where to place the various traps in a chain. Further, creating engaging level designs has proven to be part of the challenge in this process (not that it's ever easy) since there are so few limitations with how players can use their traps at the moment.

Additionally, art assets keep coming along, too. We now have models for the boot, ramp, walls, mine, bomb, environmental fixtures like island huts, and--of course--the impressive Dodo! All the pieces are coming together nicely to make for an incredibly promising alpha build of the game.

Can't wait!

- Troy