Handheld electronic games are an example of a toy that adopted characteristics of arcade video games. These devices highly influenced the design of future handheld gaming devices. Developing a mobile game which is inspired by these pioneering devices is both an interesting challenge and a call-back to the origins of handheld computing devices.
Study Guide - Making a handheld electronic inspired game.
Handheld Electronic Game - Design Principals
By implementing the control scheme, assets and gameplay style it is possible to mimic the feel of these hand-held electronic games on a modern device.
The game occurs on the represented LCD screen and consists of a static background and game sprites. The background is the environment that game takes place in, while the sprites are layered on top of the background and can be turned on and off. When designing the game, it is important that sprites do not visually overlap with each other.
In my design, the handheld is represented as an image consisting of a LCD screen and texture buttons which simulate the controls found in these handhelds.
Sprites should be grouped together based on their movement paths, keeping track of which sprite is active using a position variable.
