Autopilot

Hey there!

The Altay Tank Game controls now include a dramatic Autopilot! This took the game to a new level for sure!

The Autopilot allows the player to become the Commander of the tank, shooting aliens, while driving is done as a lower level task by the autopilot.

"You drive, I shoot!"

Innovation by necessity

The idea came up after hours of playing and finding that running in circles is the only tactic to get a high score.

I've first defined the four corners of the screen as waypoints. The autopilot simply navigates through the four points, in counter-clockwise.

The target waypoint can be overridden by the player, using the number keys 1, 2, 3 and 4. These keys correspond to the Upper Left, Lower Left, Lower Right and Upper Right corner of the map.

Future provisions

In a future version, waypoint locations might be updated by the player. This could allow generating various new tactics. 

Combined with a larger map or with some other tools (like drive-by/driver-over waypoint handling), the autopilot might open ways for a new exciting game play.

Also, after playing in the Autopilot mode for a while, I've started thinking about making the game more exciting, i.e.

1. by exploding enemies upon kill, thereby damaging nearby enemies.
2. by stunning enemies with bullets that hit them.

Do not hesitate to ask about the game and its code or to discuss about your opinions.