Okay, so I’ve always been a fan of simple, fun online games. You know, the kind you can just jump into for a few minutes and then get back to whatever you were doing. I stumbled across this idea for a “beach volleyball flash game” and thought, “Hey, I could probably mess around and make something like that!”
First, I needed to get my head around the basic mechanics. I’m no game developer, just a guy who likes to tinker. I figured it would be a simple 2D thing, side view, with maybe stick figures or super basic characters. The core gameplay? Just moving a character left and right to hit the ball. Maybe a jump button, too.
Finding Tools and Getting Started
I started by, you know, just Googling around. “Flash game maker,” “easy game development,” that sort of stuff. I saw a lot of complicated options, but I wanted something super basic. Because I only wanted to make a simple game just for fun.
Building the Basics (Lots of Trial and Error)
I decided I need to find a basic graphic tool to draw the court, a simple background, and the players. I wanted the most basic and simplest, even just stick figures, it would work, so I used a simple tool on browser that I found.
The coding part… that was interesting. I played around with moving the character. Left arrow, right arrow, make him go. That part actually worked pretty quickly! The jump… that was harder. I spent a good hour just trying to get the jump to feel somewhat right. It was either super slow and floaty, or way too fast and jerky.
Then came the ball. Oh, the ball. I wanted it to have a basic arc, you know, like it was actually being hit. I messed with the code for what felt like forever, trying to get the physics to look decent. It kept going straight up, or bouncing off the screen, or doing all sorts of weird stuff. Eventually, I got something that kind of resembled a volleyball trajectory.
Adding (Very) Basic “AI”
I figured I needed an opponent. I didn’t want anything fancy, just something that would move back and forth and try to hit the ball. So I cobbled together some code that basically made the other character mirror my movements, but with a slight delay. It wasn’t perfect, but it was better than nothing!
The more I tweaked, the more I realised that the tools were maybe a little too basic. I did some searching and then… finally!
The (Sort of) Finished Product
So, after a few evenings of tinkering, I had something that… well, it resembled a beach volleyball game. The graphics were super simple, the gameplay was basic, and the AI was pretty dumb. But you could move, jump, hit the ball, and kind of play against a very rudimentary opponent. The control keys that I finally set is quite easy.
- Left/Right Arrows: Move player
- Up Arrow: Jump
It’s definitely not going to win any awards, but it was a fun little project. It reminded me how much work goes into even the simplest games, and it gave me a new appreciation for game developers. It was a cool way to spend some free time, and hey, I learned a few things along the way!
