Prototype

Hey!

This week I got to start my game prototype. However, before I started prototyping, I re-examined my GDD (Game Design Document) and wasn’t really satisfied as I thought that my game idea was just a typical endless runner game, it was a bit tedious and had no real excitement therefore I decided to combine my platformer game idea (the one from week 3) with my endless runner game idea.

Here is the link to the updated GDD:

https://www.dundoc.com/project/6898/x9wxcjk383

To get started, I downloaded some cool assets from the asset store. This asset contains many components such as characters, enemies and packages. 

I decided to add moving platforms that elevate up, down and diagonal. The player has to be careful when moving from one platform to the next. The speed of the platforms vary the further you go on. Each platform is very narrow therefore making it more difficult. It has no walls to protect you so if you fall you “die” immediately. The game is much more challenging this way. I’ve played my prototype many times and I thought it was much better than my original plan.

Scene View of Platforms

Arranging and setting up my game environment was a bit difficult as I had to make sure each platform was reachable. I had to keep playing with the platform’s positioning a couple of times to get the game to function the way I wanted it to. It took a while, but I got there in the end.

Throughout my prototyping, I thought it would be a cool idea if I also added some “survival” aspects to it considering the assets folder also included enemies. So I applied some creatures that attack you whenever you get too close to them. You use your weapon to defeat them before moving onto the next platform (some creatures require more hits/strikes than others). If the creature does so happen to get near you and attack, it will decrease your health (you can see how much “life” you have left on the HUD (Heads-Up display).

Game View of  the Creature Attacking

I’ve talked a lot about the platformer and survival side of the game, now its time to talk about the endless runner side of the game. I’ve decided to step away from the traditional endless runner game concepts and kind of went with my own route. However, the “endless game” aspects I still held on to are as follows:

• Third-person view
• The player is constantly moving forward; Unable to move backwards.
• Instant kill: the player dies immediately after they fall off the platform.
• Score boosters / collectables.

here is a little preview of what I accomplished this week:

Screen Recording of My Game

For the upcoming weeks, I plan to enhance my game by adding more features and mechanics such as collectibles and perhaps checkpoints, etc. I also want to make it look aesthetically pleasing overall.

To conclude, I’m glad I re-examined my GDD because it led me to realise that my game wasn’t exciting enough. By actually creating the prototype, I discovered that my game had room for improvement. This comes to show that games can always be improved even when you think you’re done with it. I feel like the iterative process is underrated, but it actually helps you find new ideas and opens up your mind to new possibilities. All in all, I had fun creating my prototype this week! Can’t wait for next week when I get to show you my progress!