Twin Stick Shooter
Computer Science A Level NEA
In Computer Science A-Level, every student is required to do an Non-Exam Assessment (NEA). This is a coursework where you choose a problem and then create a solution along with a document that documents the process.
I chose the problem of a friend not having a fun retro-style video game to play with his friends. I unsurprisingly came up with the problem after having the idea for the solution, a retro-style twin-stick shoot-em-up game, heavily inspired by Journey of The Prairie King which is a mini game in Stardew Valley. Over 6 months or so I piled countless hours into this project, creating the game along with a 250 page design document, and I received a mark of 73/75. Here is my design document detailing the creation process and the code, the code can also be found on my github.
In the game, players control a completely customisable character, using their gun to fend off waves of enemies that spawn from all sides. Enemies vary in speed, health, and movement patterns, with tougher types appearing later. Randomly dropped items grant temporary boosts and abilities. The goal is to survive as long as possible, score points, and climb up the leaderboards. A local account system lets each player create an account that saves their statistics, high scores, and custom character, while local multiplayer allows two players to team up for combined scores.
I’m very proud of this project. I think the game is well made and can be pretty fun, I made all the art myself using Aseprite (I did choose 8x8 pixel art because it would be easy to draw), I made a lot of the sound effects myself using FamiTracker, I’m pretty proud of the design document, and I didn’t use any AI in any of the development (I didn’t really know about it at the time).