Alright, let me tell you about this little project I got myself into recently – making a ‘rocket slot machine’. It sounded like a fun idea, mixing that classic slot feel with a cool space theme.
So, first things first, I just started sketching. Nothing fancy, just scribbling down ideas on paper. How should the rockets look? What other spacey symbols could I use? Planets, stars, maybe an alien? I wanted it to feel a bit retro, a bit playful. Spent a good afternoon just doodling and imagining how the thing would look on a screen.
Once I had a rough visual idea, I started thinking about the nuts and bolts. How does a slot machine even work? Okay, reels spin, symbols line up, you win or lose. Simple enough, right? Well, getting that spin to feel right took some doing. I messed around with the speed, how they stop – making it feel a bit random but still satisfying. Didn’t want it jerky, you know?
Getting the Reels Spinning
I decided to focus on making three reels first. Getting them to spin independently and then stop one by one – that classic slot machine sequence – was the initial goal. I coded up a basic version, just using simple shapes or letters first instead of the actual rocket graphics. Lots of trial and error here. Sometimes they’d all stop at once, sometimes they wouldn’t stop at all. Just kept tweaking it.
Then came the winning part. How does it know if you’ve won? I had to define the winning lines – straight across, maybe diagonals later? For starters, I kept it simple: three identical symbols straight across the middle row. I made a list of the symbols and set up some basic logic: if symbol on reel 1 = symbol on reel 2 = symbol on reel 3 on the middle line, then ding ding ding! Well, no ding ding ding yet, just a mental note.
Adding the Rocket Fuel
With the basic mechanics sort of working, it was time for the fun part: making it look like a ‘rocket slot machine’. I took those doodles I made earlier and started creating the actual graphics.
- Designed a few different rocket ships.
- Added planets, stars, and maybe a goofy looking astronaut.
- Made a simple background, like a starry night sky.
- Created buttons for ‘Spin’ and maybe ‘Bet’.
Getting these graphics into the project was the next step. Replacing the boring placeholder shapes with my cool rockets and stars. This instantly made it feel more like the game I imagined. Seeing the actual rockets spin was pretty satisfying, I gotta say.
Putting It All Together and Polishing
Okay, so I had spinning reels with space stuff on them, and a basic win check. Now I had to make it work together smoothly. I added a way to trigger the spin (clicking the ‘Spin’ button), made sure the win check happened after the reels stopped, and maybe added a simple display to show if you won or lost.
There were definitely bugs. Sometimes the win check fired too early, sometimes the graphics didn’t line up quite right. Just the usual stuff when you’re building something piece by piece. Spent a fair bit of time just playing it over and over, catching these little issues and fixing them. It’s like whack-a-mole sometimes, fix one thing and another pops up.
Finally, I did some minor polishing. Maybe tweaked the colors a bit, made the buttons look a bit chunkier, added a super basic sound effect for the spin and the win. Nothing too fancy, just enough to make it feel a bit more complete.
And that’s pretty much it! From a rough idea and some doodles to a working little rocket-themed slot machine. It’s not gonna break the internet, but it was a fun process to go through, figuring things out step by step. Definitely learned a few things along the way.
