BATTLESHIPS COLLIDE - PORTFOLIO
What I did: Built and shipped the game completely from scratch. Created some of the assets including some UI, some models, some textures, some shaders, and imported the rest from the unity asset store and opengamearts, designed levels, progressions, and tuned major systems like game mechanics and monetization, hardware optimizations, and wrote dialogue.
My very first released mobile game: Battleships Collide, a 3D interstellar space shooter.
I worked on this project as the sole developer using the Unity Engine. The first version of this project, its idea and first prototype began work in April 2019 and was completed in May 2020. The subsequent version began work on June 2021 and was finished in July 2021. Then was released on multiple app stores upon completion.
The first version of this game isn't exactly what I would call "My best work", as it had been a couple of years since I started learning how to make games with Unity and was about to bring my game idea to the world. It had a few "problems" which included poor control mechanics, graphics and quality. However, after some months learning the technical skills that are involved in game design, a more improved version was produced
SCREENSHOTS
Battleships Collide - Version 1
Battleships Collide - Version 2
CHARACTERS
Reinforcements
The player at it's full glory
HQ Boss
The primary villain of the game
Ship Hades - The main villain of the game
Level 1 Pirate ship
Level 2 Pirate ship
Level 3 Pirate ship
Level 4 Pirate ship
SUMMARY OF MY RESPONSIBILITIES
I created a space and sci-fi ambience by using space skyboxes provided by the unity assets store and sound effects made by edited recording of gusts of wind blowing by a speeding vehicle.
I created some of the assets used, this includes a 3D models like planets, force-field and nebula, UI, custom model textures, shaders and.
I took advantage of the unity asset store and opengameart for the rest of the assets needed to showcase a live and realistic sci-fi environment.
I wrote C# codes for the mechanics of the game including camera, animations, player and enemies movements, behaviors and dialogues, and codes that localizes the languages and optimizes the game based on the hardware it is installed.
I designed the game's concept using primitive 3D models and ran various tests to determine the most realistic sci-fi spaceship movements and controls. The spaceship movements and behavior were constructed to mimic a real life military aircraft flight but this time with much more control over the braking mechanics.
I designed and tuned major systems like levels, gameplay, UX, and monetization.
CHALLENGES FACED
Challenge: Creating a seamless and immersive 3D space environment with believable physics.
Solution: Utilize Unity's physics system and rigidbody components to simulate realistic movement and collisions for the spaceships. Implement smooth camera controls, camera shake effects and dynamic lighting to enhance the visual experience. Utilized sound effects and particle effects for explosions and other visual and audio feedback.
Challenge: Optimizing performance for mobile devices.
Solution: Use efficient rendering techniques such as level of detail (LOD) systems and occlusion culling to reduce the number of rendered objects. Implement object pooling to minimize memory allocations. Optimize shaders and textures for mobile devices. Test performance on various devices throughout development.
Would you like a more detailed workflow to this project? Would you like to follow my thought process on this game? Well....would you?
Head over to the Development Guide
During this project, I developed the following skills:
Developed a great deal of understanding of the Unity physics engine by writing efficient C# code to create a custom AI path-finding solution using raycasts.
Time management. I partnered with an ad mediation team to seamlessly integrate an F2P monetization. During this time they had a game jam tournament that I could enter if I completed the second version in time, I had to organize a decent game development time management structure. The goal of this was to complete the game in less time than the duration it took to make the first version of the game. So I did this by dedicating an average of 5 hours of the day and ensuring that I have accomplished a goal in the production of this game. I completed the second version and successfully entered the competition just in time.
Communication with the players. When the first version of this game was released, some feedback gotten revealed a great deal of potential in this game. So I communicated with testers and players alike, and got a general sense of understanding in what they wanted and provided a much furnished design as seen in the second version.
Developed the much needed optimization skills as a mobile game developer by studying mobile phone hardware and architectures, CPU, memory and GPU. Then play testing and profiling with different mobile phones and identifying and fixing bottlenecks and cause for performance dips anywhere I could find it, this led me to writing multi threaded C# codes using a package in Unity's DOTS technology.
Enhanced my knowledge of Unity's Distribution Portal by releasing this game to 7 app stores including Google Play Store, HUAWEI AppGallery, QooApp Game Store, Xiaomi GetApps, Apptutti, Uptodown.
Designing and implementing a well matched game theme. This game matches well with a sci-fi and futuristic space exploration game with intuitive UI, sound effects, ambience and spaceship models.
The most exciting feature about this game is the general star wars vibes this game gives off. Accelerate your ships and move at light-speed to a distant galaxy and help out the freedom fighters by defeating enemy ships, destroying asteroids and collecting various fragments scattered all over the galaxy. And, in the space of 2 months, I was able to effectively transform my "not so good game" in to a very well thought out and furnished "great game"