SPACE RESCUE
October 2021 - January 2022
Games and Media Creation Processes [CI6535] Mobile Game Prototype
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Engine: Unity
Programming Tools: Microsoft Visual Studio
Language: C#
Artwork Tools: Photoshop
Role: Main Programmer
Team Size: 4
Game Plan
Welcome to the Space Rescue blog!
I’ll be posting updates every 1-2 weeks to keep you informed on the project’s progress.
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Our team consists of 3 to 5 members, and we’ve been tasked with creating a mobile game for Android devices. We decided on a 2D Space Rescue game, with the core mechanic focusing on turning, controlled by dragging your finger across the screen.
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I’ll be taking on the role of the main programmer, while Rohan serves as the team leader, Ivan oversees the art direction, and Rahul handles storytelling and level design. To stay organised, we’re using Miro for planning, a Discord server for communication, and Trello to coordinate our work efficiently.
WEEK ONE
Camera Controls
Since the player navigates through space to rescue people in a 2D platform, the camera is set to a bird’s-eye view, following the rocket sprite as it moves. To achieve this, I attached the camera to the rocket sprite, allowing it to track the player’s movement through space.
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Initially, the camera’s movement felt too rigid, so I implemented SmoothDamp to smoothen out the camera’s transitions, making the motion feel more fluid as the sprite turns.
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11th October 2021
WEEK TWO & THREE
Movement Mechanics
I focused on refining the movement mechanics, experimenting with different methods to find what worked best for our game. Ultimately, I decided to use translation for the sprite, as it allowed for consistent speed throughout gameplay.
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The turning mechanic took more time to develop. In the second week, I initially had the sprite turn by snapping to the point on the screen where the player touched. However, this didn't feel right for a rocket ship, as it turned too abruptly, jumping from one direction to another in an instant.
18th October 2021
In the third week, I improved the turning mechanic by using Quaternion rotation, which eliminated the sudden snap and allowed the sprite to smoothly rotate as the player drags their finger across the screen. Initially, I had issues with the camera not turning correctly with the sprite, but I resolved this by calculating the direction using the difference between the target’s position and the camera’s position.
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25th October 2021
WEEK FOUR: ALPHA PROTOTYPE
We’ve officially published the prototype of Space Rescue. Ivan designed the game’s icon, and Rohan created a space background filled with stars. Currently, the stars are just part of the environment and can’t be interacted with, but we plan to make them interactive in the near future.
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At this stage, the player can only fly through infinite space to test out the turning mechanics and movement. None of the objects in space are interactable yet.
1st November 2021
WEEK FIVE & SIX
Game Manager & Audio Manager
The audio manager has been set up, laying the groundwork for future sound integration. In the coming updates, we’ll add sound files to the manager and assign them to the game objects.
8th November 2021
I’ve implemented the game manager, which now loads the "Game Over" user interface when the player dies. The manager also contains the collider script, handling object destruction. The "Level Complete" UI has been set up, although there isn’t a win condition in place yet.
Both the "Game Over" and "Level Complete" UI buttons are properly linked to their respective scenes.
Initially, there was an issue with the camera script continuing to search for the player sprite after it was destroyed, causing the game to crash. I fixed this by ensuring the target (player sprite) is checked for null before the camera continues its actions.
15th November 2021
WEEK SEVEN
Win & Lose Mechanic
The losing mechanic is now fully functional, triggering when the player comes into contact with planets. I expanded this by adding a death ring using a 2D collider. To ensure the game ends only when the player hits the ring, I inverted the collider so that being inside the ring is safe until contact is made. I created a red ring in Photoshop and placed it over the death zone to visually signal the danger to the player.
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Additionally, I set up a scene fader to smoothly transition between scenes.
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The win mechanic requires the player to collect passengers and transport them back to the home base. Initially, the game ended once all passengers were collected, but I later improved it so the player must deliver the passengers to the home base before winning.
22nd November 2021
WEEK EIGHT: PROTOTYPE V2
Health UI & Gravity
I set up the health UI to work in sync with the player's health, displaying up to three shield icons that enable or disable based on the remaining health.
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The gravity system took considerable time and research, spanning over two weeks. I managed to get it working, but there's currently an issue where gravity continues to affect the player even after they leave the gravity range. I plan to bring this up with the team to brainstorm a solution.
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29th November 2021
WEEK NINE: PROTOTYPE V3
HEALTH UI & GRAVITY V2
After continuing our work from last week, we resolved the gravity issue, ensuring it no longer affects the player outside the designated range. With Rohan's help, we implemented a system to reset gravity after a certain amount of time, giving the player a chance to escape the gravity field.
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Additionally, I fixed a bug that allowed the player to exceed the UI health limit. The system is now limited to three shields and one shield point gained for each ship collected.
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6th December 2021
FEEDBACK
We received feedback on several areas for improvement. I need to fix an issue with the win mechanic to ensure the game ends once the player collects all passengers and returns to the home base. In a later version, the UI had too much information, taking up valuable screen space that could be reduced. Another concern was that players often got lost in the level and had no clear way to understand their location. Lastly, the death zone was deemed unforgiving, so we need to make it more visible to the player.
6th December 2021
WEEK TEN
Target Indicator
Following the feedback from the third prototype, I created a target indicator to direct the player to the closest passenger. I encountered an issue where the target indicator wouldn’t point to the home base after all the passengers were collected. I resolved this by designating the home base as the closest passenger once all others were saved.
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The game now ends when all passengers are collected and returned to the home base. Additionally, I streamlined the UI, which now takes up less space by combining the passengers saved and remaining into a single line.
13th December 2021
WEEK 11
Mine Bomb
I had the shortest time to work on this compared to everything else. I managed to create a mine that chases the player when they get too close and self-destructs after a certain amount of time. Initially, this was challenging because it uses two colliders that interfered with each other. To resolve this, I used a child object for the sensor, which successfully fixed the issue. This mine is the final piece added to the game, and now everything will be integrated with the artwork and level design.
17th December 2021
FINAL PROTOTYPE
The game is finally complete with nine levels! Phew! It took a lot of hard work and hours to finish, but I’m really proud of what we achieved as a team. Now, it’s onto the next game. See you soon!
