hey everyone,
so being a student myself, i have decided to enter the unity 2018 global student challenge, and as a result of that, i have decided, to participate in the challenge.
and so, my initial plan is to be trying to get out a playable prototype of my entry, every single week, with at least one new thing, over the duration of the creation process of my entry.
and so, i shall be posting my weekly updates for the game over here.
i have decided to use the Unity RPG Section, and Showcase subsection,due to how helpful this course is, and feels most appropriate to me for time being, as i am using a lot of what i learned here, in creating that game.
the challenge theme was teaching something, i and i have decided to create a game that should teach some concepts of modern physics, things like special relativity and duality of light and particle properties.
obviously, as i am starting out, the game is still far from that, but i hope by end of challenge, i can deliver something that teaches those in a fun interesting way, which is a reason i am focusing on gameplay first.
it isn’t one of the game goals teach math and equations, but it is a goal to teach the concepts clearly in a visual fun manner. which i hope to be able to achieve.
you can get the lastest iteration of the game in the link below.
so for the first week i did mainly organizational stuff, i focused on getting core things done.
and worked with the mindset, that, i need to get a prototype done, no matter how little it has.
so my main focus is is simply, getting a core functionality loop done (level management, scenes, main menu, win, lose, and a playable level) to be completed.
and to also, have something playable no matter how small, and the core of my game, will be movement.
i decided to also focus on that, with basic shapes from pro builder, and a small level design, from pro builder too, without much going on, in the level, aside from enemies moving, and player movement.
and since my game is about teaching some things about modern physics, i also wanted to get some visual effects that simulate the weird behaviors of the world as speed increases (getting closer to speed of light) (it isn’t really speed of light obviously, i can’t code such thing, its just, me trying to fit the fact that, the world starts behaving differently through manipulation of visual effects).
so, this was my focus for this week, and here is a semi detailed list of things, i completed, and wanted to complete, and hope to complete in the future.
for this week update, i have completed the following and more.
Core Game Loop Fully Functioning (Menus, and Scenes, from main menu scenes to play scenes, fully functioning)
Basic Avoidance gameplay have been implemented, with player movement.
AI Finite State Machine, is implemented into the game, which should make it easier to create different enemies.
Solid Neat looking game, with basic look.
Applied Camera Filters, and Camera Effects, at run time dynamiclly.
different movement sets for all characters.
Core gameplay, game loop is done: you can keep avoiding enemies.
Basic Timer Done
UnCompleted Tasks:
Could Not Complete, the hits/health system, so, there is no win/lose conditions.
no sound effects.
Tweaking Numbers More
Future Goals:
Adding Secondary game effects such as:
Time Reversal
Destroying Enemies, through striking them by light.
adding light counter, so that, you only have few sets of lights, and you can change them from wave form(buffs) to particle form(destruction).
Adding an interaction system.
Creating Basic Story, and introductions, for things to learn, dynmically as you play.
Adding A Character mode, and ship mode, that are connected, where you complete a piece as the character, and then head as the ship, to complete it.
add Models
add sound effects
this is the current art style, i went through with.
hey everyone, so another week has passed, and i barely met the deadline of a weekly playable build. but i did, very glad that i did.
was tough long week, and learned quite a bit in it.
for this week update, i have completed the following and more:
Imported Interaction System
Extended Interaction system to fit more into the layering of the game.
completed the game loop, where player can actually die right now.
created scrollable materials, where the ground materials, actually scrolls depending on your movement (just visually).
used interaction system, to create and use one more level, that displays it.
created weapon system, which enemies can use, so that they can harm player
a health system was born to accompany the weapons.
created compounded events, that help me link things visually in editor along with many editor scripts.
Created one More AI Personality, that can make use of system of weapons.
tweaked the visuals of the game one more time.
i also, ended up with some design notes, from this week:
player interactions and controls need quite a bot more of work
restrictions on player movement(Axes), at the cost of making it more responsive, might prove better than current movement system, at the price of making movement more responsive.
idea: creating a player, and seperate it from the ship, might be viable story wise, and make the game more dynamic, perhaps, player can have light mechanics (secondary mechanics) and ship can have those movement mechanics.
my next week’s plan, is to focus more heavily and deeply into making player controls, and interactions with the world, be and feel more satisfying, even if restrictions have to be made, or even changing the AI Movement system, to become rigidbody based, instead of NavMeshAgent based.
but, this is what this week is for, and i hope i can achieve, this main major goal at the very least.
in this week, my focus, was pushing as hard as i can to make the game’s core, more clear, and fleshed out, and more satisfying to play.
other things i did, were making an informer system, momentum based collisions, curved mass, making a far more proper second level, with a should be clearer objective.
i did nice progress, but i truly hopped i’d be able to do more, but, week ended, and thats all i could manage.
for this week update, i have completed the following and more:
created an informer system, to properly and easily display words
extended interaction system to use it.
created an AI, that uses A* as well as rigid body movement, but its use is on halt for time being.
extended the original NavMeshAgent AI and the player, so that, they can “collide” with each other, depending on momentum.
added constraints on player movement, to make movement more interesting, and less dependent on acceleration.
tweaked numbers more, and they feel far more satisfying, including materials scrolling.
mass is now relative to movement through a curve.
Extended AI System to deal with Momentum, and replacing objects.
created and added a player model.
made the player model actually turn depending on movement.
created a singular proper learning moment (about momentum)(really good, need to create more, that is for sure).
improved a little bit on visual effects.
i also, ended up with new, different design perspective notes
such as exotic materials introduction, both visually, and conceptually, the ideaa to use Asset Forge for models,and the need to find better length contraction visually. (for now, i have toned them down a bit, as scrollable materials).
you can grab the latest update from the link below.
any and all feedback is more than welcome.
for a more detailed review of this week, feel free to read this.
Unity Student Challenge Week 4 Update:
and this week’s main focus, was finding the proper next steps i need to make, and i started it off, by bug squashing all over the place, and improving the overall experience, and most importantly, i found the next proper steps i need to make, and i actually started making it in this current build, as the 3rd level of the game, too bad, i had to cut it short, for this week, and complete this level, in a really half baked form of it.
or this week update, i have completed the following and more:
Destruction ! enemies now, get destroyed, with great visuals (fracturing and destruction)
Events, for Death have been properly created
improvements for the UI, using art packs and icons.
i also, had a lot of interesting design points, mainly learning more about physics, and researching specific elements, i could stretch out, and implement into the game.
made sure, and corrected a lot of information on physics.
Reversing time, through using same light packets, have been removed from considerations, as it is too far of a stretch for physics.
consider, changing that reversal, to light beams, player spawns, and they act differently based on behavior.
tunneling is possible, and requires quite a bit of frequency, and chances to happen.
orbitals themselves do not move, particles move.
Unity Student Challenge Week 5 Update:
this week i didn’t make as much progress as i hopped, with exams facing me, i am starting to doubt myself quite a bit.
however, for this week i managed to complete quite a bit of tasks
completed the third level, in an appropriate manner, with a semi puzzle existing.
created projectiles system.
created one more pushable object.
turned health loss effects into events on health of player, instead of being directed and controlled by weapons.
an entirely new learning moment, about tunneling, and uncertainty principle has been added
and much more.
It Is Done
After three months of work, this project is finally over
Project Summary:
You are teleported to a a new world, where the laws of physics, are mixed with each other, creating various different utilities for this new world.
You’ll be learning different and various concepts of physics on a high level, through the game mechanics, that express these general concepts.
Project Inspiration:
I myself am getting a Bachelor degree in physics, and honestly, i along the years have found physics to be quite the weird subject, especially when in some cases, it kind of, doesn’t make any sense and counter intuitive, but, proves to be sensible at same time, especially when modern physics came into play.
