What I did: Built and shipped the game completely from scratch. Created some of the assets including some sound effects, 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.Â
EXBOTS REVOLUTION - PORTFOLIO
I worked on this project as the sole developer using the Unity Engine. This project idea and its first prototype began work on the first week of October 2020 and was completed on April 2021. And was released on multiple app stores upon completion. PC version was released later on itch.io
The fictional characters in this game uses path-finding algorithms along with Unity's physics engine to navigate around the game map and interact with physical objects.Â
SCREENSHOTS
NOTABLE CHARACTERS
The Protagonist: Akira
A vengeful hitman, an exbot trained by the Exbot Agency. He's got mad skills and an advanced weapon that does a lot of damage when fired
The Primary Villain: Borge
He's the one in charge of the agency now, he has a lot of exbots under his command, and a very powerful rocket launching weapon.
The Main Villain: Vigor Acer
The main villain: Vigor Acer, the big boss and leader of the exbot agency, a person whose skills so closely matches that of Akira. He does not go down easy.
MINOR CHARACTERS
These are the characters that must enforce all that the exbot agency stands for. Their main goal? To stop Akira no matter what it takes. They are my idea of recreating the idea behind the classic sonic the hedgehog series in which people are gradually turned to robots, first the human is turned to a henchman, and eventually to an even powerful robotic henchman.
Exbot Henchman
High Level Exbot Henchman
High Level Exbot Henchman
EPIC VILLAINS - THE MACHINES
The laser monster
The antigrav destroyer
The quad car
The combustion monster
SUMMARY OF RESPONSIBILITIES
I designed the game's concept using primitive 3D models which I eventually transitioned into a fully furnished platformer run n gun style game.
I created some of the assets used, this includes a 3D models like platforms, props, background environment, UI, custom model textures, shaders and sound effects.
I took advantage of the unity asset store and opengameart for the rest of the assets needed to showcase a live and realistic 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.
FEW CHALLENGES FACED
Challenge: Implementing smooth and responsive player controls for the run and gun mechanics.
Solution: Use Unity's built-in input system to collectively handle player inputs for all platforms. Implemented rigidbody movement with precise collision detection and response. Adjust acceleration, deceleration, and jumping mechanics to provide a satisfying and responsive gameplay experience.
Challenge: Designing and implementing challenging enemy AI behavior.
Solution: Define different enemy types with unique behaviors and movement patterns. Use state machines to control enemy AI. Consider factors such as enemy detection, pathfinding and attacking. Balance the difficulty curve to provide a challenging but fair experience.
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 the course of this project, I developed the following skills:
Improved my knowledge with Unity's physics engine by giving the NPC navigation capabilities using Raycasts. As a 2-Directional movement game, the enemies(NPCs) have their movements limited to the x and y on the coordinate system.
Continuously valuing ideas/features through the creative process, including making hard decisions, enlisting play testers and getting their opinions and feedback.
Distribution of games to multiple app stores using Unity's Distribution Portal Services.
F2P monetization by in-game ads and in-app advertisements. Tailored to not obstruct a player's gaming experience but to improve it. This is made possible by rewarding the players with advanced weapons only if they watch an advertisement. Of course players could still gain the rewards without watching ads but by paying money to have these weapons permanently unlocked.
Gained the needed experience of environment art by taking advantage of Unity's Global Illumination system, Universal Render Pipeline shaders, post processing and optimized textures to create wonderful lighting and color techniques that are fully optimized to run smoothly on every android phone available on the app stores. This was also done by writing efficient C# codes to optimize the game's graphics and gaming experience at runtime based on the device's hardware. Additionally more optimization techniques like recycled game object instances and occluded camera were employed.
Improved my knowledge in shader graph and particle effects to showcase a toon-style artwork on the characters and provide a realistic experience to various sci-fi weapon impacts and explosions.
Designing and implementing a simple and intuitive UI for a platformer game including a simple cut-scene interactions between various characters.
Learned App Store Optimizations
Itch.io distribution
The feature that I'm most definitely proud of is the exciting thrills present in the game as you fight your way through so many enemies, firing at them and dodging their weapons and bullets. The game remains engaging the moment either the player's character or the enemy fires their weapon. It is backed up by the story-line that follows a vengeful assassin that turns on their previous master. This has so much potential for an even better sequel or a prequel at just the right time.
The in-game music boosts the excitements with the best thrills of an action game so it does not feel too frustrating if your character dies during a mission. They can simply be regenerated at a checkpoint and continue the mission.