Hammerhead Fever: Prototype II

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a hammerhead shark? Like, how cool would that be?

Well, now you can.

Move over, Hideo Kojima. I’ve got the sharks thing covered.

Let’s revisit that original design document.

The first prototype was playable, but this latest prototype is much closer to the spirit of the original design document.

Hammerhead Fever may not be obviously educational in that it gives outright facts

BUT

There are many educational components present:

Hammerheads are thought by some to use echolocation (natural sonar) to traverse the waters. Some scientists suggest that hammerheads are incredibly sensitive to the earth’s magnetic field.
Hammerheads live in areas with coral reef. In the initial prototype, I had to make orange coral in a hurry. It’s school; it happens. The coral just wasn’t working with the overall aesthetics, so I drew a more subtle, green coral/seaweed (read: it looked fucking stupid). The green version provides the ocean-like feel and doesn’t scream Oh, god– what is that?
Hammerheads live amongst, and often feast upon octopi, crustaceans, blowfish, and stingrays.
A hammerhead shark’s greatest threat is actually human intervention. In Hammerhead Fever, you have to avoid harpoons and bottles of poison. I also drew a garbage can, much larger than the bottle, but it wasn’t included in this latest prototype.

>>>>>>>>> Play HAMMERHEAD FEVER <<<<<<<

The sounds, the programming, and the artwork all create an overall experience that allows you to feel like you are a shark in the ocean. I’m no graphic artist, but I think I did a damn good job trying to draw a hammerhead shark so it would look “cute” but also still look like a hammerhead shark. Did you know they are often that olive-green colour?

Future builds would have included new levels, boss battles, some kind of supersonic blast based on how well you are playing, and small edits made to spelling errors and missing letters.

My experience using GameMaker by YoYo Games was also unique. Long story short, I used Microsoft Remote Desktop to access a Windows PC from my Macbook Pro so I could run the GameMaker program. There was a heap of trial and error. Oftentimes, work I had spent a lot of time on was garbage because I couldn’t undo prior edits at a certain point, so I ended up creating some items twice. Oh, well. I finally got the hang of it, and learned the program. But it was certainly not a quick process, especially considering I work with editing programs often. I’d like to try making another GameMaker game on my own, but only when the semester is over! 🙂

Credits:

Aaron E. – Programmer & Producer

Jessica W. – Artist & Designer