BUILD FOR PLAY
Project Brief:
“In this project, we will explore the technical components of a video-based game: the physics and mechanics expressed in code, and the hardware-to-software connection from the game controller to the screen.
You will have to consider goals and motivations for the players, the scoring system, the narrative, the art and atmosphere, and the physical aspects of play embodied in the ergonomic concerns. While the system might be complex, the experience need not be complicated - but fun is mandatory!
The outcome of the project will be an original video game and a custom controller for it.”
Concept Ideation:
A navigation obstacle game - The idea of this game was to create a platform game with the objective to navigate the space, and avoid colliding with any obstacles.
The narrative - The player has been transported to a strange maze of alien gardens. The trees are lush and beautiful but harmful to the touch. Piloting this marble avatar, the player must navigate between garden portals to find the crystal portal tree to finally leave the gardens.
Game play - For this assignment, only the last level will be created. The player will control a marble to avoid colliding with trees within the platform. Collisions will bring down the final play score.
Environment and Aesthetic:
Since the concept ties in both garden and futuristic themes, I decided to pull inspiration from older “futuristic” design trends, like Frutiger Eco, and 2000s low poly games.
This resulted in a simple platform level with contrasting low poly trees and textures and high metallic features.
The end result is simple, retro-futuristic, and playful.
Starting Code:
Initial testing: Since I am new to Unity and C# coding, I decided to do a “test run” of my build using the keyboard arrows to control the player avatar.
Accomplished using KeyCodes and transform.translate for each available movement direction.
Movement is only activated when the key is pressed or held down. Two movements can be activated at once this way, thus moving diagonally.
Bad Luck
This is when my laptop started to have problems running Unity and the other programs needed for this assignment. Which eventually lead to the system crashing each time I attempted to run the game.
This has thus prevented me from being able to implement my serial controller plans.
The intention was to try different methods of control for the game to see which emulated the arrow keys best, but I was unable to do so.
The theory:
My intention was to try and dictate three buttons on the controller for each direction, emulating the arrow keys. This would then apply a burst of force with each press, moving the avatar in the direction specified.
Similarly, I also thought of a way where the direction was controlled by a knob, and the force was only activated when a button was pressed.
Example game play:
Example of game play using initial code for keyboard keys.