arognes / biofun

Node.js project made in 2015.

BioFun

A two player, online, turn based game that was eventually going to be themed around cells and biology related material.

Showcase

Game Concept

1. A map is created with points randomly distributed.
2. Each player chooses a starting tile to build their base from, within their side of the map.
3. Both players ready up and game begins

• Each player is given points throughout time, and if their are nearby points on the map that they click to mine

• Players use their points to build:

• Structure

A cheap node that allows other nodes to be built off it. If this node is upgraded once, nodes can be built diagonally and it adds a layer of defense from enemy attacks.

• Offense

Player can click adjacent enemy tiles to destroy their segments for a price. Destroying one segment also cuts off the rest like a branch cut from a tree.

• Point Generator

This generates points over time. Invest now for higher returns later.

  TODO Ew, fix this section

What Happened to the Project?

Work began on September 18, 2015, and ended on October 25, 2015. 37 days total. The front-end is functionally completed as the Javascript is all there, all that was left was a UI overhaul with some CSS magic.

I didn't have a job at the time so I didn't think that learning how to host the game on a server would be an efficient use of time as I couldn't afford any of the website hosting, domain, and backend server costs.

Thus the game was left in its current state...

How I Made It

I implemented a basic Node.js server on my localhost to run multiple 2 player games at once, each game and player with a separate ID. The front end is 1/4th cup plain HTML, a pinch of CSS, and 2 heaping scoops of Javascript. (The server did the game state/score calculations, but the client still required a lot just to display the information)

TODO Go through code and see what I did

What I Learned

I'm glad that I started learning how to program with Javascript and Node.js. Before this I had only used Unity's C# / Javascript, which some would argue are not valid because of how much Unity does under the hood.

Implementing a server was not as difficult as I thought thanks to Node.js. I was able to learn a lot about html and javascript through this as well. The first version Javascript Grid was the first HTML website I made that wasn't some hello world or print out mouse positions.

TODO Go through code and see what I did right/wrong

Future Implementation

One day I hope to see what I can scrape from this old project and get it running again, when I do I will link it here and this whole readme will be changed too.