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Coming from someone who has very few experience with Unity, altering this game might be a challenge for me. Although I do have some experience in coding and usually find myself altering games quite often, so this should be fun. Thinking about lights and camera, I first think about changing the the directional lights position and intensity, in an attempt to create a different atmosphere, possibly create a sunset vibe. As far as the camera, its hard to say what ill be able to do with it given my Unity experience, so it will be a lot of trial and error.
After completing the first rough prototype altering lights and camera. I was able to discover another side of player interaction. At first the idea seemed simple yet difficult to imagine how altering the lights and/or camera could possibly change the game. Although spending multiple hours unpacking the scripts and figuring out what controls what is when I realized what could be done by simply changing aspects like the lights.
Having researched relevant references, I now know what direction I want this game to go towards. Looking up ‘scare’ techniques and ways to change the setting in a game brought me to the idea of having a night mode. Create this sense of obstacle and insecurity in that the players no longer have to worry about their opponent but about moving through the map in darkness with only a few spotlights projecting an interesting texture. With this, players can also choose to go full stealth mode and have their health slider and headlights disabled. Adding this, I was thinking to myself, it might be possible that a player will want to hide his health in an attempt to completely hide himself.
The final product is due, I have received feedback from a few people and adding triggers came up many times. The idea is that the night mode has to be in gameplay.
The prototype is now complete and is a final version. Upon handing in my first prototype, I realized it was visually more complete than mechanically. Having my night mode option available as a button I realized that the players might not interact with it as much as I hoped. I also asked myself some questions on some of the inputs implemented; Does this on/off switch really alter the game? Therefore, I removed the canvas or ‘health slider’ on/off switch given it was also difficult to see the tanks in complete darkness. As for all the switches, I decided to keep them in, although implement them into the gameplay; triggers. Therefore, I added glowing, floating objects that trigger them modes.
After the first ‘Lights, camera’ iteration of TANKS!, I was able to grasp the functionality of Unity. Moving on to this iteration is going to be another challenge as I don’t have much experience with sound design. After having looked at the class’ references, alto of them did include tutorials and tips on how to recreate scare, or thrill in a game simply through sound. Therefore, my first iteration was based around darkness and getting a feeling of insecurity. For this project, I tend to slightly build off this idea to try and increase stress. To do so, I believe the game should no longer be multiplayer therefore be solo.
The prototype is complete although still has a long way to go. Thinking of how to approach this required a lot of research as well as looking at other game examples. The idea for this prototype is have the tank driving around the map alone. Health capsules will be spawning in random areas that the player must find. A count down timer will pressure the player to find them as quickly as possible. Once found, a collision trigger will add seconds to the timer, letting you survive a little bit longer to find more. The sounds in the backgrounds include heavy breathing, heart monitors, and heart beats. The less time the players has, the faster the sounds get, getting more stressful. I did run into some issues thus far, the sounds are not functioning properly according to the time left of the clock. I will look further into this.
The sound iteration of TANKS is complete. The version has altered since the last prototype, although still contains an issue that I was unable to resolve. Throughout the process of this final version, I encountered a lot of issues that pushed me to alter the game, some for the better, some a little less. Trying incorporate different sounds on triggers caused some difficulties and wasn’t able to get them to work properly, so I had to slightly alter the concept. I then realised that the game should not have the timer be visible. Removing the timers text made the game sounds so much stronger and much more important. The mechanics stayed the same, although every time the player triggers a health capsule the internal timer resets to 35 seconds, although the player does not know.
Now having completed 2 different iterations of TANKS! while having explored the many core concepts Unity offers, I feel like I’m capable of developing something more interesting. Although experiencing many difficulties in the last iteration of sound, I hope to tackle these challenges with a greater knowledge on how to solve them. Initially, when thinking about 3D models and how they can change the game of TANKS!, game modding is the first thing that comes to mind. Having done some research on game mods, I found a lot of interesting games that were either slightly altered or largely altered. Regardless, it was interesting to notice how simple the changes can be and yet have such a huge alter in how one can experience the game. In general, its about combining 2 games together, usually one of the games being something everyone can identify, a game very different yet easy to familiarize. With this idea, I will explore this idea of combining games and see where that takes me.
I have started the the prototype and have even got it tested by a few classmates. Approaching this iteration, I wanted to approach this concept of a Super Mario-like design. The original game TANKS! is definitely low-poly and has a cartoon feel, though features its own theme and design. First, I had decided to change the 2D high-angle view from the original and get a third person character mid-shot angle of the tank. I also felt the need to change the tank colors to blue and red as an imitation of Super Mario. I also changed the tanks cannon to able to control the shot angle. With this I wanted to create this ‘shooting ‘area and make the tanks movement in the map irrelevant. Though after play testing, I have come to conclusion that the tank should definitely be able to explore the map, as this is one of the key features in Super Mario. As for the level, I will then expand and include blocky-like islands for the tank to drive onto. Adding to this, The level should definitely include obstacles, moving platforms, triggers, etc. to essentially get that Super Mario feel.
The Final iteration of TANKS 3D models is finished. Personally, I believe it was a bigger success than the last iteration. Although I still would’ve wished to add more features to make it juicier. In terms of challenges, I did run into a few though was able to find alternative solutions. My biggest challenge was to include damage to the shell that the tank fires. For some reason, I was not capable of adding fire power to the shell therefore destruction of obstacles could not happen. Therefore, I had to swap the controllable cannon and remove any shooting ability. The goal of the game to simply make it to the end of the course, as in a most Super Mario levels. If the player falls off, they simply start back from the beginning. The level includes moving platforms, obstacles, disappearing platforms, and many more things that are designed to possibly throw the player into the water.
The end result is finished and the game is ready to be released. Going through these exercises has been a great learning experience and has helped me understand some of Unity's core aspects a little better. The final version is a combination of all 3 iterations. Each iteration is also available through a main menu which is accessible at any time during any game by pressing the key "M". Coming up with the title was about finding the right words in representing my games as a whole. I noticed that though my games all different in many ways, the main idea is for the players to give the tanks an identity given the environment it is in. Were the tanks meant to destroy each other? Are they used as a vehicle of exploration? The players can decide.