Ideas to Expand the Game

The tile game isn't perfect, and there are lots of ways to make it better. First, a few problems could be fixed:

• On Windows machines, the granularity of the system timer isn't accurate enough for smooth scrolling. You'll create a workaround for this in , "Optimization Techniques."
• Using sprite bounds for collision detection isn't accurate enough. Smaller collision bounds could be used instead. We present more ideas for this problem in .
• Also, you could use better collision handling for times when the sprite travels across large distances between frames. You'll implement this in as well.

Furthermore, just by adding levels and more tile images, you could make the gameplay last much longer. You could also tweak the engine to make it faster and taller, with weaker gravity, or whatever suits your desires. Here are some other ideas that you could add to it:

• Add interactive tiles, such as being able to break tiles or open doors. This could add a puzzle element to the game.
• Add "walk-through" tiles that have a graphic but aren't solid. This could be useful for map decoration.
• Add more than one parallax-scrolling background, such as a transparent background of trees or mountains.
• Use a different sprite animation when the player is jumping.
• Create a more destructive environment by adding falling rocks or bottomless pits.
• Give the player variable-height jumping and running acceleration. The longer the jump key is held down, the higher the player jumps. Likewise, the longer the player moves, the faster the player goes.
• Add creature-to-creature collisions so that bad guys bump into one another instead of walk through each other.
• Use 3D sound to make the fly buzz when it gets closer to you, or make all sounds echo as if you're in a cave.
• Provide a better map-to-map transition, such as summing up the stars collected for the previous map and providing a "get ready" screen before the next map.
• Add more standard game options, such as pausing, key configuration, and menus.
• Add more bad guys, more graphics, more levels-more, more, more!