ASTROBOTNY RESEARCHERS
CONCEPT
The main purpose was to produce a mysterious and adventurous multi-storyline game set on an outer planet. The fun of exploring another planet and uncovering its enticement was the fundamental theme for this game.
*Project duration:- 9 days
*Team size:- 4
*Major role:- Designer (Narrative, Gameplay, Concept)
*Goal:-
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2.5D Metroidvania platform-adventure game with RPG elements
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Game, which is self-explanatory.
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Smooth game flow
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Nicely present a multi-character, interconnected storyline.
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Beautiful visuals and graphics
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Minimal controls
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Create a fun and satisfying yet uprising experience
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*Production challenge:- This was a college project with a team of four: one for artwork, another for sound effects and technical aspects, and myself for design and programming. As the deadline approached, we were in a rush to finish. During integration, the artist's system malfunctioned and erased all artwork, leaving us without any assets. The second team member also gave up and slacked off. To salage this, I created lo-fi designs and added appropriate music to convey the game's concept and feel. This experience taught me important lessons in a challenging way.
STORY STRUCTURE
Two earth researchers embarked on a quest to discover a mysterious treasure on an unknown planet. Unaware of potential hazards, they proceeded to explore independently. Ultimately, they found themselves being pursued by hostile alien enemies. They eventually regrouped and fled to safety aboard their spaceship, returning to earth.
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In Level 1 and 2, players take control of each researcher and guide them through their separate adventures, which occur simultaneously. Each researcher must overcome various challenges, including navigating treacherous terrain and solving puzzles to progress.
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In the final level, the researchers finally come together and must work cooperatively to escape the planet and its dangerous inhabitants. Players must guide both researchers to their spaceship while avoiding obstacles and enemy fire. Once they reach the spaceship, they must quickly take off.
LEVEL DESIGN
I designed the levels with various elevations to create a sense of adventure. To keep the player engaged, I strategically placed gems and berries throughout the levels. I selected vibrant colors for the ground and vegetation to align with the overall theme. Additionally, I utilized a GUI to provide directions and help tell the story.
Level 1: Outskirts is set during the day with minimal vegetation and features a small monster with adventurous background music. The first level is relatively easy to clear, and players can choose to either kill or jump past the monster.
Level 2: In Dense Forest, large trees and a menacing monster create a tense atmosphere enhanced by the accompanying music. To portray the density and low light of the forest, I used darker tones for the ground and trees. This level is hard and tricky, requiring players to find a fire berry or an alternate route to avoid the big monster since jumping over it directly is not possible.
Secret paths: Both levels feature secret paths that require some risk or extra effort to find.
ENVIRONMENT
The planet's atmosphere contains a high amount of copper and strontium, as well as some nitrogen, sodium, and carbon, resulting in a magenta-colored sky. Other gases are present in smaller amounts. Additionally, the planet has two moons, which make the environment slightly colder than on Earth.
Because of the different chemical reactions occurring on the planet, the plants have a unique and magical quality, with vibrant and fluorescent colors that stand out against the magenta sky. These plants are adapted to the planet's environment and may have properties that are useful to the player in their quest.
GRAVITY
To create the feeling of low gravity on the outer planet, I adjusted several physics values. Firstly, I lowered the gravity and adjusted the mass of the player to make it feel lighter and more floaty. I also reduced the jump force in the script and added a slight bounce on the ground to create the sensation of jumping on a cushion.
Additionally, I added the ability for the player to use the low gravity to their advantage by allowing them to jump multiple times to gain additional height, creating a unique and interesting mechanic for players to use in their adventure. By adjusting these values, I was able to create a distinct and immersive experience that accurately reflected the low-gravity environment of the outer planet.
ECONOMY DESIGN
There are 3 gems with low to high values, and rarity is accordingly. a treasure box having a higher value. This was supposed to be used to repair the space shuttle.
POWER ITEMS
To keep the controls minimalistic (with just left-right movement and jump), I decided to incorporate instant-use power-ups in the form of berries, which also align with the game's theme. These powerups include:
Healing: Regenerates 1 HP.
Fire: Provides a red aura that deals continuous damage on contact. These are limited in number.
Immunity: Provides a blue aura that protects the player from hazards and enemies. These are more abundant than fire berries.
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I intentionally kept the cool-off period for these power-ups low to increase the challenge and difficulty of the game. This encourages players to plan their needs and act quickly. This also discourages players from collecting every item they come across. For example, if a player collects every fire berry but fails to use them, they may find it impossible to defeat a monster.
Aura: Creating the aura was a significant challenge as the Unity Shader Graph was primarily designed for 3D games, and I needed to make it work for 2D. The process involved a lot of experimentation, testing, and troubleshooting.
In essence, what I did was convert some 3D values to 2D for movement and rotation and replace the 3D sphere and textures with their 2D equivalents. I used scripts to change the aura's color, allowing for dynamic color changes based on the powerup being used.
ENEMY
One issue with the monster in the game was that it was walking straight on an elevation, without tilting or adjusting to the terrain. To solve this issue, I increased the enemy's mass and gravity, and adjusted its colliders. This caused the enemy to automatically rotate and adjust to the terrain as it moved. In addition, giving it a more powerful and dynamic presence in the game. This change also prevented players from being able to push the enemy off the map, and made it necessary for players to rely on the fire berry power-up to defeat it. By making the enemy more challenging and difficult to defeat, players are encouraged to strategize and plan their approach, adding an additional layer of depth and challenge to the game.
RESPAWNING
To create a respawn mechanism, I implemented a system to store the player's coordinates from a few steps back. When the player falls off the level, their coordinates are copied to the stored location, with a few units added in the y-axis to ensure that the player spawns slightly above the ground and doesn't clip through it or collide with it awkwardly, which ensured a smooth and seamless respawn experience. If the player loses all their lives, a game over screen appears, and the level restarts from the beginning when the player chooses to restart the game.
MUSIC
The background music in the game creates an atmosphere of mystery and adventure, immersing players in a sense of exploring foreign lands. The sounds chosen for collecting items fit the theme of the game, making players feel like they're discovering valuable treasures. Meanwhile, the monster growling sounds add an element of danger and excitement, keeping players on their toes as they navigate through the game's challenges. Overall, the audio design effectively enhances the gameplay experience.
FUTURE VISION
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The usage of 3D models instead of 2D artwork, increased contrast and fluorescent colour use, special effects, improved ambient music and sound effects, BG effects, etc. Thus creating a complete bundle of mystical planetary experiences.
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The game's theme is crucial. Through nice, detailed visuals, everything in the game should be self-explanatory. Every item, object, mechanics or hazards, environment, etc. should have their own reason for existence, and they all should connect and convey the main idea of the world.
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Appropriate sequences and shots, as well as necessary descriptions and narrative.
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The game features a three-character, nonlinear plot. Each has their own set of abilities, experiences, and challenges. Each shell provides a unique experience in gameplay, mechanics, controls, etc.
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For the player’s complete immersion, the game should have a minimalistic control scheme and skills that are easy to understand but hard to master. Thus, the story needs to be easily gasped by the player, and the narrative should be clear to create a meaningful experience.
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Improve the game systems and in-game economy, along with adding nice UI and other screens connecting to the game’s theme.
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Levels can be expanded, showing the story and world in depth. I think I will make a total of 2–3 hours of gameplay.
