My Space shooter game

[NickWalterJohnson]

Finished my space shooter: Aether Run. All assets (art, music, etc…) are mine with exceptions noted in the game credits. For me, the best part of this experience was pushing myself to make my own code. I had never coded prior to this course… I tried to push optimization (still lots to learn on that front, of course…) and getting rid of pesky null-reference errors. I don’t think that there are many lines of code left from the class, yet I would not have been able to make this little game without it. I really enjoy this course.

The music and art are “off” in places and I definitely wish I had thought through scaling pixel art/screen aspect more thoroughly before starting, but this is my first attempt at game art! The story is filler, but I wanted to create at least a template for a small but somewhat complete game. Most people so far who have played also found the game quite difficult unless they had played a bunch of intentionally difficult shmups. Still, I’m just happy to have made something!

General Game Description: It’s a classic space shooter with a simple twist: you can’t shoot everything. Choose from one of two aether craft pilots and fly through 5 planets in the solar system: fighting against space raiders and aether beasts while (1) rescuing escape pods and (2) avoiding destroying native aether crafts.

Some things I added:
controller support using the new unity input system (HUGE mistake to switch to this mid-project), level selection for the first 4 of 5 levels, ship power-ups, credits, player records kept for number of deaths/wins, sound test screen, ending cut scene and credits, master volume control, pause function, boss for each stage, ability to skip over cut scenes to easy replay when dying A LOT, plenty of enemies with different mechanics… what I probably SHOULD add is a difficulty mode

The Webgl build is black screen on all web browsers I have tried (and I have tried several…). This is the same for other people who have played the game as well. I could likely overcome this issue, but for now I am instead providing a link below to a free download on itch.io. TO BE CLEAR: not asking for donations; this is just the method I have of posting the game for now.

Feedback welcome and appreciated! The game is not without bugs- If you leave the game running and go to another app it will sometimes crash or reset when you return. This doesn’t seem to happen just through pausing the game however.

Aether Run download

[Kevin-Brandon]

Wow this is incredible! Would you like to write a blog about your experience?

[Kevin-Brandon]

Also how and when did you feel confident about writing code on your own?

[NickWalterJohnson]

Hi Brandon. Thanks for the compliment. That’s much appreciated. I’d be happy to write a blog. If you have a specific format in mind, please let me know. As far as confidence, there are some basic UI functions in Unity I am still uncomfortable with- this is largely because I kept updating the editor and adding new plugins. However, I feel very comfortable with the scripting a lot of different methods in C# now. What I also know is that I have A TON to learn in C#. There is a lot of functionality I am still not using. One of the most helpful tools was using the Unity Profiler.

[Kevin-Brandon]

Learning C# is a very long process. There is so much to learn and also the unity docs. You did a great job and just keep going. As you keep building you’ll keep learning what you need to know to add to your game. What is your end goal as a dev?

[Kevin-Brandon]

@Lucy_Becker check this out.

[NickWalterJohnson]

Really appreciate that!!! Yes, there is a ton to learn in C#, but that has ended up being one of the most satisfying elements of this whole process. No reason to hide my end goal: I would like to enter into the industry as a professional. I have a heavy interest in both (1) design and (2) coding (did not know I’d love coding as much as I do… it’s so addictive), as well as interest in narrative design and writing as well as marketing. I have really enjoyed designing pixel art in Aseprite and Photshop and will continue to do so. Overall, however, I’d prefer to collaborate on art (and likely narrative as well). Of course I have ideas about how any game should be, but I’d really miss not working with other people. i.e- I’d like to be in this industry professionally, but that would ideally be with partnerships rather thana solo indy project.

My next steps are to move forward with the course, and as well as take a basic C# course. I also have a puzzle game for which I have 25 puzzles and solid core mechanics (according to a handful of playtesters, anyway… always more work to do ). These are all designed physically, rather than in Unity. I find that easier for initial design at this point- probably because I’m still very novice to unity but have at least a decent amount of experience in tabletop design.

I also would be open to improving this game. The game is tough, and I can consistently finish it without dying. HOWEVER, there are definitely a few potential elements that are not fair I’d like to clean up the design of those elements, and also improve some of art elements. SIDE NOTE: Anyone who decides to download and play, please feel free to point these out to me. I am well aware this game still has much room for improvement. I think it would be good for me to continue polishing this product; I assume that’s a huge part of designing any video game. I also would like to see if I could get an iOS port to work, but one of my biggest mistakes was not setting up the project correctly. Should have listened better to Rick and Ben .

[Lucy_Becker]

Awesome, I’ve dropped you an email with some more info!