Arkanoid Inspired Game Research

My teammate and I are choosing to make an "Arkanoid" inspired game, an arcade brick breaker from 1986. We'll be making 2 levels of the game, the first level and a second, more difficult level. Aesthetically we're looking at games like "Candy Crush Saga"

but with cute pastel influences.

The following goes over our Game Features List, prioritized:

Player Locomotion- Players must be able to use their arrow keys in order to move a paddle horizontally in the playable area. This will allow them to bounce balls off of the paddle to aim towards bricks. 

Level Hazards- Bricks are the key hazard in the game. There will be 3 types in each level: 1 hit bricks, 2 hit bricks, and 3 hit bricks. This will allow for strategic placement of both types of brick to challenge the player. 

Falling power ups will also serve as a hazard. While most will give the player positive temporary bonuses, some will shrink the player's paddle size and other's might steal a ball from the player.

Player Health and Respawn System- The player's number of lives will be determined by how many balls they have available to deploy. Should the player not catch a ball with their paddle, they will lose that ball and another will respawn on their paddle waiting to be shot. If the player reaches 0 balls they will lose the game. 

HUD- The HUD will simply display the number of balls a player has at any given time, what level they are on, and how many points they've received for breaking bricks. 

Wall Collision- The paddle will collide with a wall on both the right and left sides of the stationary screen. The ball will be able to bounce off of the top, left, and right walls, but will fall through the floor at the bottom. 

Game Camera- The game camera is stationary and does not move for the duration of the game. 

The general take on this game will be light hearted, cute, and fun. And sparkly.

Really sparkly.

You think I'm kidding?

Attract Trailer Research

To use as reference for my own racing game's trailer, I looked at the Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed launch trailer. It features predominantly in-game shots but is sprinkled with some solid cheesy acting.

What I like most about this trailer is how well they featured a lot of the cool aspects in the game like changing vehicles and crazy stunts. Their cuts are also interesting in the way they continue and build off the motion of the previous shot. Also, shots with long duration are well-balanced with fast, quickly cut shots.

HUD Research

Most racing games seem to have HUDs that only occupy the corners and very edges of the screen. They also attempt to be as transparent as possible for least obscured viewing space.
Games like:

Forza 5

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit

Mario Kart

For my HUD for my own racing game I'll do the same with my space, but will also use it to help theme my level. 

My own vehicle's speedometer looks something like this: 

And also this:

Probably a little too industrial for my country level.

Really what I'd like to do is stick all those dials on a piece of wood:

Perfect.

Particle Research

For my racing level I'd like to include a few particles.
 Just a few falling leaves:



Some water splashing/coming off the water mill:
 

And finally, for pretty-ness's sake, some little fireflies for the evening:


For practice I completed a tutorial that explained how to create dripping water. As you can see in the video below I modified it a bit to be more like a small stream of water rather than a few drips.

Barrel and Turret

Race Intro Inspiration

While this intro from Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed is pretty long (a little over 1 minute), I still found it to be a good example of what I'd like to emulate in my own racing game's trailer. It flies through each portion of the level, showing the turns and obstacles in detail. One thing that seems odd about it is that it goes through each section of the track out of order. I guess that could leave more mystery to the player, but it does seem counter-intuitive.
Otherwise, I like this fly-though for the way it frames the most interesting aspects of the level, really showcasing the variety of stunts and obstacles there are for the player just in this one track.

Barrel and Turret

So coming up with an exploding barrel and a turret for my racing level was pretty straightforward. I already have the core components of a good ole country time in my level--moonshine, big jumps, exploding things--but all it really seemed to be missing? Fireworks! My barrel, on low damage, will set off the fuses of some fireworks. At higher impact damages, or after a few seconds, the fireworks will start to take off, causing major distraction for the player.

The turret, on the other hand, will track the player as they go around the track in all its make-shift solo cup glory. It will consistently fire at the player causing more distraction while they're going through the level.

Here's are some visual targets.

This is similar to how I'd like the fireworks to be placed in the barrel, as well as how they will fly out on player impact.

But in old bourbon barrels like these.

And for the final bit of inspiration? You know it, you love it. The solo cup!