Task One – Summary and Requirements
Cosmic Conflict is a game based off of Space Invaders, an extremely well known and widely regarded video game. The main plot of the original Space Invaders was to shoot the aliens before they get to the bottom of the screen and keep the player ship alive. The goal: to score the highest amount of points.
Cosmic Conflict is a futuristic shooter based in dystopian space. The player is a military cargo ship pilot, tasked with recovering parts from the now ruined planets in the *INSERT GALAXY NAME HERE* System, and bringing them back home to Earth.
The game follows this ship, until it is disabled by space pirates. The player is left with two turrets and a broken ship, being forced to defend himself.
This innovative spin on an old classic game allows for a number of modern mechanics to be added:
- Game Design: Cosmic Conflict has a twist in comparison to space invaders. The turrets on the ship will act as a defense mechanism when the cargo ship inevitably breaks down, this means that the space pirates will head towards the turrets (and in turn the ship) to get the valuable materials on board. The player will need to toggle between two turrets to defend the ship from the attack.
- Visuals: Unlike the original space invaders, this game will be 3D, so will be more immersive and modern.
- Mechanics: Similar to Space invaders, the game will be score based, a high score being kept on a leaderboard.
- Multiplayer: In the future there will be a multiplayer mode where each player controls 1 turret, utilising the Unity Multiplayer service for a better game experience.
Task Two – Reference and Inspiration
Source 1: Space Invaders
The concept of space invaders is a massive inspiration to the game, but with a spin on it. Instead of the player being mobile, you will be stationary, and will have to sit motionless with only two turrets to defend yourself. The challenge is not to avoid shots from enemy ships and destroy them like the original space invaders, but is to multitask; flipping between two turrets in an attempt to destroy all of the attacking enemies.
Source: https://www.muralswallpaper.co.uk/shop-murals/space-invaders-mural-wallpaper/
Source 2: Elite Dangerous
Elite Dangerous is a space game that is very graphically appealing. It shows off lots of different things that can be implemented into our game, from planets to ships. Lots of different things in this game can give inspiration, which is really useful for the development of our game.
Source: https://www.gamingnexus.com/Article/4551/Elite-Dangerous
Source: https://thecakeisaliegaming.wordpress.com/2014/10/27/elite-dangerous-the-beta-so-far/
Source 3: EVE Online
EVE Online is a space game MMO space game where you fly ships, gather resources and upgrade them. There is also a huge guild system within this. This has inspired parts of the game, from the ship to the planets in the game.
Source: https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiDo9nr7_zYAhVKY1AKHZfMA1cQjxwIAw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gamesradar.com%2Fthe-next-big-eve-online-war-is-about-to-break-out-and-it-could-cost-one-million-dollars-wait-what%2F&psig=AOvVaw2sHDp0AOoIUFkFonF3vEhf&ust=1517305006264368
Source 4: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
This is kind of the same inspiration as Valerian where we want our environment to look like a space like wasteland and a to have a dying/ exploded planet in the distance so in the movie star wars the force awakens multiple planets get destroyed and we would like at least one planet in our environment to look like that, to look like a lifeless area filled with evil.
Source: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Starkiller_Base
Source 5: Passenger
The film passenger is set in space. This is good inspiration as the design of space is good, and the ship is very effective.
Source: https://www.space.com/35133-how-realistic-ship-from-passengers.html
Task Three – Technical Specification
Rendering
Splashscreen:
When initializing my game, it first has a splashscreen which will display the Rizing Games logo.
This will be achieved using two pieces of code; A script to fade the image in an out as well as a script to time these intervals at the correct pace.
Main Menu:
The main menu will have a slideshow playing in the background, with a select few buttons being rendered for navigation using the PlayStation 4 controller.
The level:
The level will be rendered with the player ship turrets and an initial 1 enemy. The enemy number will increase using a method implemented called “pooling”, and will decrease when an enemy collides with the bullet that will “reset” the enemies position until it is called upon again.
In regards to the background, a large enemy pirate ship and an exploding planet will be displayed in the background.
The interior of the turret (where the camera will spend most of its time during the game) will have a HUD displaying health, as well as a command console for visual effect.
A.I
The A.I in my game (currently the enemy drones) are set to move in one direction, until it collides with the playership, which in turn causes it to “reset” and damage the ship. Another more random A.I ship is planned to snakeand zigzag on its way to the player.
3rd Party Application
https://unity3d.com/unity/features/multiplayer for the multiplayer
Formatting
All of the Scripts should be written in C#
This will be using the Mondevelop tool within the Unity engine.
Task Four – Content Development
See the Content Development category
Task Five – Evaluation
I feel the work we have produced is very appealing, and has successfully met all scheduled features, from the camera movement to the AI random spawning. In regards to improvements, the team and I are currently exactly where we expected to be, so there is no issue in regards to time management or any technical parts of unity. Creatively, in regards to implementing ideas into the game, this may need a bit of work, but that would be for further down the line.
The current state and progress of the game is exactly where it should be, following all time frames nicely, so no improvements need to be made in regards to the progression towards the finished E3 title other than the distribution of time ie. more time spent building a game and less time documenting things.
In a full scale project, the team and I all agreed that if we were given the flexibility to develop the game further without caps on each part (e.g. the vertical slice), we could continue to develop it further, making it more successful. During this assignment I have learned to document only the necessary pieces of work, stick to production schedules and focus on the game mechanics as closely as possible. For the FMP, I will make sure to document everything on time, and will continue to host team meetings to see how the team are progressing, and adjust things accordingly.
References
- “Space Invaders”. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Invaders, N.p, 17/11/17. Web. 18 November 2017.
- “Unity Multiplayer”. Unity. https://unity3d.com/unity/features/multiplayer, N.p, 2017. Web. 20 November 2017.