So after about 3 months of absorbing Unity tutorials, I decided it's time to actually make my first game. My main goal for this is to set up a project and actually finish it without letting myself be distracted by other ideas, of which I have plenty.

Scope: I do understand the importance of setting realistic goals, so I'm aiming for a short (5-10 min) walking (or in this case: diving) simulator. The inspiration mostly comes from binge-watching videos on YouTube of people getting lost/stuck in caves, people diving shipwrecks, and stuff like that.

Here's a basic plot:

In the aftermath of a devastating environmental catastrophe, suspicions arise regarding a flooded mill on the outskirts of a small town. Rumors suggest that hazardous chemicals were mishandled within the mill, potentially posing a significant threat to the surrounding ecosystem.

Unable to determine the truth due to conflicting water sample results, the authorities make a crucial decision—to dispatch a professional diver to investigate the submerged mill and uncover any signs of dangerous materials.

A simple character controller is already implemented, and I'm currently building the game world.

I'll update this regularly to keep myself motivated and responsible. See you :)

Ok - here is a brief update:

I'm currently still busy building the game world. I'm almost done doing so, though it has taken longer than expected. Unfortunately, UV unwrapping/mapping feels like rocket science :)

I'm a bit conflicted about the character controller. The current one uses a standard Mouselook script, along with a functionality that adds a (decreasing) impulse force in the direction the player is facing, basically simulating a swimming stroke. However, divers usually have flippers, which makes this mechanic inaccurate. Nonetheless, I do think it would be more interesting this way.

Anyway, I'll make a bigger update when I'm done with modeling.

Alright!

So I'm mostly done with the game world. Up until now, I've created everything in Blender, but it still looks a bit empty, so I might look for a good industrial assets pack. Let's see...

The center of my attention is now sound, mainly underwater ambiance, as well as a rebreather sound. Luckily, I found some matching CC0 samples. Furthermore, I took care of the lighting, which in this case means removing all of it. Then, I created a flashlight and added a sway effect to it.

 I also added a particle system that emits particles in the direction of the player's camera to simulate the dirt moving around underwater. The next thing to take care of is post-processing.

Time for a quick update.

Made some progress: 

Sound, as mentioned in my last post, is implemented.

Post-processing has been implemented. I fear that to achieve the exact atmosphere I aimed for, I would have had to use HDRP, but it's okay.

I have implemented half of the UI, including the death screen and different status messages, etc.

I have a prototype for a main menu.

Currently, I am working on the main mechanics, such as decreasing the oxygen tank, death, and the main events of the game.

If everything goes as planned, I will be able to make the first build next week :)

Well, everything did go as planned. I have a fully playable game loop - minus the UI because I forgot to set all the canvases to full HD, so everything looks off at the moment. Fixing this should not be a problem, however.

Now, this is the plan: I will playtest this a couple more times to identify any potentially game-breaking bugs. I have not found any so far. Then, I will send it to a friend so he can playtest it on his laptop and check if anything is off.

And then - a game page has already been created - if this also goes as planned, I'm going to release my first game in 3-4 days =).

Done. 

Depths Of Contamination by Alx Frsh (itch.io)

Announcement: Depths of Contamination - A short first-person underwater horror game - Release Announcements - itch.io