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🔥 Lava Leap

Subtitle: How I finally understood ES6 Classes and Constructors!
(Hint: it does not involve barking dogs!!!)

Lava Leap is a 2D platformer game implemented using vanilla JavaScript. The game features:

  • player movement
  • obstacles (lava patterns that the player has to avoid)
  • five levels
  • coins that the player has to collect in order to move to the next level

🎮 Game Flow

  • Move your player using the arrow keys or the W, A, D keys.
  • The goal is to have it collect all the coins without making contact with the lava. Then it can progress to the next level.
  • A collision with the lava means the level restarts.
  • The default number of lives is 3.
  • Should your player run out of lives or successfully complete all levels, the game will come to an end.

💡 Want an extra challenge or need some help? Adjust your player's number of lives directly in the URL.

  • While on the home page, set the number of lives by adding a query parameter in the URL: https://lava-leap.netlify.app/?lives=number. Replace number with the desired number of lives and press Enter. For example, use https://lava-leap.netlify.app/?lives=5 to start the game with 5 lives.

NOTE: Right now, you can only change the number of lives on the home page and before the start of a game. Changing the number of lives once the game has started will restart the game.

🔄 If you've run out of lives or completed all levels, I added end-of-game messages and a restart button so you can always try again!

Why I Wanted to Create This Project

I am a self-taught developer focused on frontend and accessibility. For the longest time, ES6 Classes and Constructors just didn't make sense, and assumed they were some secret tools for backend developers. Fortunately, a tech meetup encounter with Ean Moore, a Senior Software Engineer and game developer, changed my perspective. Ean is one of the most passionate JavaScript developers I've ever met! He spoke about game development with such enthusiasm that it sparked my curiosity — even though I don't play video games!

Code Source and Added Enhancements

This project began as a direct application from the "Eloquent JavaScript" book, which I then adapted to improve functionality and user experience:

  • used modules to restructure the codebase
  • added intro page with option to input number of lives via a modal
  • created a Modal class to manage event listeners related to the modal's functionality
  • added option to adjust the number of lives in the url
  • added a start button, end-game messages, and a restart button
  • upgraded the color theme for better accessibility
  • made game stats (level number, coins collected and coins remaining) available during play

And guess what? Now I know how to use the “Constructor”! 😎

Upcoming Changes

Right now I'm working on adding some extra cool features and more game levels (although, I must admit, I keep getting stuck on level 2 ☹️).

1. Gameplay Enhancements

  • pause option between levels
  • visual and sound effects during collisions
  • a second player (should it be a Good one or a Bad one?! 🤔)
  • option to adjust the speed of moving elements

Bugs

  • using the browser's back button, updates the url, but the game does not update the number of lives from the new query

2. Tooling Upgrades

  • Migrate to TypeScript
  • Set up Automated Testing

Get in touch!

Have any great ideas to improve the game? Let's collaborate!