Introduction

	Ever since I was in elementary school, programming in BASIC on my Apple //e, I 
have wanted to program a game.  All through high school and college, computer 
programming courses only gave out boring assignments.  While they definitely provided 
useful experience, they were hardly ever exciting.  
	When I saw ICS 481 being offered several years ago, I was determined to 
someday take this class.  It was one of the key ingredients I was missing.  Along with the 
user interaction, structures, and general programming knowledge I had previously 
learned, I could finally create a program that I would be proud of.  
	Thus, as my final project, I decided to make a game.  At first, a role playing game 
seemed to be a good choice.  However, it would take more creativity than I have to create 
characters and enemies, as well as write the story.  There would have to be elaborate 
artwork, interesting twists, and a fantastic ending, none of which I would be able to 
provide in such a short time.  
	Another possibility was a driving game.  After dealing with OpenGL, I felt it 
would be possible to mimic Sega’s early polygonal driving games.  Changing camera 
angles would be no problem with the gluLookAt command, and the background could 
consist of simple mountains and texture maps.  My lack of knowledge about how cars 
operate led me to eventually drop this idea.  
	In high school, I always enjoyed 2D fighting games such as Capcom’s Final Fight 
and Sega’s Streets of Rage.  For my project, I decided to make a similar game.  With 
OpenGL, of course, I am able to give it a 3D effect, while still keeping it in the 2D genre.

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