T.D.A (Time Devastation Annihilation.)
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About the game
T.D.A was a game done for a game jam in 2024. Most of everything that is in the game currently was done within that small time frame of 4 days.
My team and I consisted of 3 people. 1 Programmer and 2 artists.
The game is quite simple, time itself if disintergrating around you, and you need to make sure that does not happen.
The enemies you fight are a mash up from different time periods, there is an alien from the future, a minotaur and a cyclops. Each of them have their own attack patterns and unique ways of interacting with the player. Additionally the player has a unique attack loop that will make the encounters manageable.
Gameplay Loop
You are tasked with making sure that each and every portal within the lab is closed, the way in which you do that is by killing any of the anomalies that come out of the time portal.
Each enemy drops a time shard. This can be used to either close a portal or heal yourself. The reason this was done was because the player needed a way to sustain themselves in the midst of combat, there was also the problem of the player being able to close a portal very quickly or becoming overwhelmed if the amount needed to close a portal became too high. Tying health and progression to an item solves both of these issues.
When each portal is closed the doorway to the next area will open. There are 2 boss fights and 1 enemy.
Lessons learnt during the development process.
What went right.
The game came out amazingly, it had very few bugs and it looked great with all the animations hooked up
The gameplay loop of using your sword for crowd control by throwing it out is a really good decision I am glad i made. The switching between the two feels good and they work well together.
The enemies behave as we wanted them to. There was very little unforeseen behaviour to them, and the changes were quite easy.
What went wrong.
Straight forward. The game was good, but it didnt do what we wanted it to do. the game was meant to have a second phase to it where to progress in one area you had to time shift to the past and fight against turrets and security systems to gain access to different parts of the facility or keycards.
The game was overly ambitious for a 3-4 day game Jam, and we weren't able to get everything done in the timeframe that we had and as such half the game needed to be cut.
What did I learn.
I tried to underscope the game and we did. It was a case more of that I didnt consider all the rest of the functionalities like animations and attacking with those animations, lighting, etc.
The game could have been done with a time phasing element to it, however that would have required another person entirely just to make the animations and attacking and behaviours work within Unity, and we didnt have that person.
I learnt to make the basics first and add more later if I have the time. It taught me where I could and could not cut corners.
Why is this project notable.
This project was a test of time management and making tough decisions to cut content that while we wanted to have and worked really hard on, didnt fit into the scope of the game anymore with how close the deadline was coming.
It is also a testament to how well I work in a team and my willingness to pivot on the fly when the old way doesnt work anymore.
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