Suggestions for post-collision graphic change

[OhFudgeYah]

Hi all,

 

This is my first post; hopefully I'm putting this in the right place.

 

Anyway, I'm creating a game where the user controls a character that moves right and left at the bottom of the screen. Objects fall from the top of the screen. The goal is to collect as many "good" objects as possible and avoid the "bad"/damaging ones. I have no problem setting the game up; the only problem is this: I'm not sure what to do with the falling object (visually) once it is successfully collected. At the moment, it simply disappears (and increments the user's score) on contact.

 

Certainly, I'm planning to add some sound upon contact, but I'm very aware many/most users will be playing my game without sound. Initially, I had thought of maybe having the object change colors or even 'explode' into a little burst of color, but neither of those options look all that great in practice. The game moves pretty quickly, so I'm thinking that this visual effect should be 0.25 seconds or so. Probably no more than 0.5 seconds at the absolute most. 

 

In case it matters for some reason, I'm using HTML5 canvas with vanilla JS. Although I have experiencfe coding,  I'm very new to writing games and this is my first (and most complete) project!

 

Thanks!!!

[rhmoller]

You could try animating the player character instead. It could do a little victory dance, grab animation, or perhaps just grow a little and then return to its original shape, or it could flash.