Nejuf - Software Development
Keyboard Defend is a gameplay experiment Flash game. Germs and viruses are invading the user's keyboard, and the player must destroy the organisms or else become overrun with an infestation. The player destroys the germs by using the full QWERTY keyboard as radiation controls. By destroying enemies, the player can earn bonus items that allow him to sani-swipe the keyboard or use the mouse to control a cleaning spray.
Keyboard Defend was a solo project that I did to prototype a gameplay idea that I had. The idea was using the full keyboard to control corresponding items on the screen. For this project, I decided to set it as a virtual keyboard that is being invaded by germs and needs to be cleaned. Pressing a key activates a force-field around that key that destroys the germ. There are a couple things in place to keep players from simply pressing all the keys at once. First there is the hardware limitation that prevents too many keys from being pressed simultaneously. To avoid running into this issue, I set the max number of keys that could be pressed at a time to three. This however left the option for the player just to press all the keys quickly. To prevent this behavior, I implemented viruses that when hit by the force-field will cause the player's computer to freeze temporarily. Ultimately, it causes the player to be more cautious when pressing keys. The game does not have level or waves and ends when there are enough enemies on the screen to fill the "infestation" meter.
From this prototype, I was able to improve my idea for the keyboard control. One such thing is required that an enemy be held in a force-field for a short amount of time before being destroyed. This would make the gameplay feel less "spastic" or uncontrolled. The implementation of power-ups was another addition that makes use of the computer mouse and enhance the gameplay. I was very satisfied with the results of this project, and I wish to continue improving this design.
Keyboard Defend was a solo project that I did to prototype a gameplay idea that I had. The idea was using the full keyboard to control corresponding items on the screen. For this project, I decided to set it as a virtual keyboard that is being invaded by germs and needs to be cleaned. Pressing a key activates a force-field around that key that destroys the germ. There are a couple things in place to keep players from simply pressing all the keys at once. First there is the hardware limitation that prevents too many keys from being pressed simultaneously. To avoid running into this issue, I set the max number of keys that could be pressed at a time to three. This however left the option for the player just to press all the keys quickly. To prevent this behavior, I implemented viruses that when hit by the force-field will cause the player's computer to freeze temporarily. Ultimately, it causes the player to be more cautious when pressing keys. The game does not have level or waves and ends when there are enough enemies on the screen to fill the "infestation" meter.
From this prototype, I was able to improve my idea for the keyboard control. One such thing is required that an enemy be held in a force-field for a short amount of time before being destroyed. This would make the gameplay feel less "spastic" or uncontrolled. The implementation of power-ups was another addition that makes use of the computer mouse and enhance the gameplay. I was very satisfied with the results of this project, and I wish to continue improving this design.
©2008-2022, Nejuf