Countdown Timer (Team 4)
Team 4 is in charge of implementing the countdown feature for the game. The countdown timer is an important feature for the game as it is a loss condition of the game; if the player cannot find the traitor within a given time, game is over and the player will lose. If a player has a time buffer item, the remaining time in the countdown can be increased by a specific amount of time.
Apart from the basic functionality of countdown, the time remaining can be increased if the player has the timer buffer item, and the countdown can be paused and resumed depending on whether the player has paused or resumed the game.
Sprint 2 Update:
The player can now consume the time buffer item (as Team 8 has implemented), and this will correspondingly increase the remaining time, which will be reflected in the countdown timer.
The player can decide to pause and start the game at any time, as we have created pause/resume buttons on the main game screen, which will pause and resume the countdown timer respectively.
We have decided the countdown clock may look something like the above image. The font is pixelated to match the game style. We have not been able to implement the design yet, so it is subject to change. However, the final design should not differ drastically from the image above.
19/10/22
Redesign of buttons and timer to match the game's style Reasons to do: buttons now come with icons that are easier for players to spot on, timer is also redesigned because we consider the red frame looks weird. Below is the final design of the Replay button, pause button, resume button and timer.
Main Game Screen:
Replay button
Pause button
Resume button
Timer background
When the player pauses the game by clicking the pause button next to the countdown timer on the main game screen, a pop-up window titled "PAUSED" will be displayed. When a game is paused, games usually provide options for users whether they may want to resume the game, restart the game and so on. Therefore, creating a window for these functionalities will be an effective feature for players of Atlantis Sinks, and improve the user experience of the game. Creating a window will also make it obvious for the players that the game is paused, instead of just stopping movement and music like it was before sprint 4.
As a pop-up window, the design was kept consistent with the player profile window. Consistent design is crucial for a game, so users know they are playing the same one game.
In the game:
Up until sprint 4, when the countdown timer runs out, nothing happened to the game apart from the timer digits changing to "GAME OVER" text instead; i.e., a proper losing condition had not been implemented. When the player loses, it should take the players to a "YOU LOSE" screen, and give players option to restart the game or return to menu (Team3's work). This should happen when the countdown timer runs out as well, and thus was implemented.
We have implemented the basic functionality of the countdown feature as a component (countdownDisplay.java), and have added the component to the main game screen's UI in MainGameScreen.java.
countdownDisplay.java: https://github.com/UQdeco2800/2022-ext-studio-1/commit/9d85797b7e5b48ca7e87ba35c89ac672e98e7eb5
added component to main game screen: https://github.com/UQdeco2800/2022-ext-studio-1/commit/4c1bd29fe1b26213b2828e8760475dec8009db03