The Dev Journey Continues

I've caught the game dev bug, I'm afraid. Making games is so much work, but SO MUCH FUN! The game dev process for this latest installment - Lord Hyperion Star Hammer - had its lion share of ups and downs.

This project started with humble beginnings. I was following the Unity 2D tutorial byGameDev.TV (those guys are awesome). As is my wont, I wanted a bit more of a challenge. It began with playing around with the Unity physics system, and after I figured out how to get enemies to fly fluidly along a path while also reacting to other forces (like bullets and such), I was hooked. Literally everything from then on had to be dynamically force-driven... no manual velocity setting anywhere, well with a few exceptions.

Then, playing around with particle systems and VFX put me into a frenzy where I turned into an idea generation factory. The laundry list for features I wanted to implement in this game grew exponentially. Things like a free-roaming mode, docking with space stations, flying through a gauntlet (where you have to navigate as the environment moves around you), were just a few of the many features. Sadly, these didn't make the cut... for THIS game!

I'm part of a monthly game dev meetup, and one of the other devs suggested a model where, instead of polishing a single game ad perpetuum only to release it 4-5 years later, it's better to release iteratively. That is, release a game early and often. Then release a sequel, and then another sequel, and before you know it you have an entire game series instead of a single game. Plus, the skills and knowledge you've gained make it such that you'll be able to execute more nuanced and well-polished pieces than you could by just focusing on a single game. That's the theory anyways...

In terms of sustainability and life balance, I felt pretty good for the most part. This game release was a bear, though. I set a hard deadline and stuck to it. That forced me to cut scope quite a bit, but it also caused me to pull an all-nighter over the weekend to get the thing ready for prime time. It was kinda fun in a way, reminded me of my college days. But I'm not as young as I used to be, haha!

Like I said, this game was a learning experience and a way to challenge myself. I also wanted to make a fun and engaging game! Let me know if I succeeded or not. I'm primarily in this at the moment for the learning opportunity.

I'm SO STOKED at the systems I was able to pull off in this game. To name a few:

• Dynamic physics - enemies reacting to bullets, explosions, etc.
• Weapon management - switching weapons, ammo, reloading, weapon cooldown, etc.
• A weapon upgrade system!!
• Dialogue UI - NPCs talking to you with scrolly-text
• Gameplay hints - e.g. "Press Y to switch weapons"
• A spawning grid system
• Lots of various weapon types - nukes, missiles, bullets, lasers, and my favorite, the epic beam laser
• A shield system that I practically stole from Halo C.E. (I made all of the sounds myself though)

In addition to these systems, this game really hones my skills on some Unity fundamentals:

• Global state via ScriptableObjects
• Async actions via Coroutines
• Event systems && action delegates
• Copious use of prefab variants

I even started on the path to more intelligent A.I. - I delved into Finite State Machines, and when that limited my options too much, I learned all about Behaviour Trees. I even implemented a working one in the game before I aggressively de-scoped a bunch of stuff so that I could get the game finished in a timely manner.

All in all, I feel like I downloaded a freaking encyclopedic volume into my brain this time around. The amount of stuff needed to learn gamedev is just astonishing. And I'm loving every minute of it. :D

So let me know what you think, if this resonates with you at all, and I'd love to hear your story, gamedev or otherwise! Cheers!

xoxo

Don