Flair Hockey
Paddle Controller
The Flair Hockey team knew that we wanted the player to defend a central goal from approaching pucks, but how this would be accomplished was a matter of debate. Most of the team felt that touch / drag controls made the most sense, but drawing inspiration from Super Hexagon by Terry Cavanagh, I threw together a prototype of my own vision. Thus was born the rotational controller that we ended up using.
Approach Patterns
The team worked together to brainstorm several puck patterns, but we ended up settling on three: a straight approach, a sine wave, and a spiral pattern. I implemented the straight and spiral pucks and the behavior of all pucks when they are deflected. Straight pucks can be knocked into each other, while the spiral and sine wave pucks must be individually deflected.
Power-Ups
To keep the game unpredictable and hectic, colorful pucks that granted power-ups to the player were introduced - the catch being that these pucks must be allowed into the goal instead of deflected. I implemented a speed boost and health bonus puck and assisted in the creation of a multi-paddle power-up. Eventually, I also implemented a rainbow puck that granted all of the above.
Hazards
Hazardous, flashing grey pucks were created as a negative counterpart to the power-ups. These hazards do not directly harm the player, but either reduce the paddle's speed or increase the size of the goal, making it harder to defend. I implemented both of these hazards.
