First Post

This blog has been started to show the development of my Unity game, Scapes.

I wanted to make a game that featured full freedom of movement across an open landscape, in a more abstract style than most games feature.

The player can fly and move along any axis in a similar manner to Descent.  Although the environment is open, gameplay is kept within a fixed area.  This is accomplished in the vertical direction by having downforce that increases the higher the player and NPCs go, further upward movement eventually being impossible.  Movement in the horizontal direction is limited by simply having a small world.  If the player travels far enough they end up back where they started.  This prevents endless wandering into empty space in a more elegant manner than simply using invisible walls or an enclosed arena.


The map is based on a simple plane with plateaus added.  This made it easy to script NPC movement, who simply have to fly upwards if they don't have a line of sight to their target.  Various landmarks and decorative objects were added.  For a simple design and retro look, almost everything in the game is drawn in flat polygons using a simple shader which alternates between 2 colors based on angle to the camera and a normal map.


Although a flying game, the player uses a melee attack.  This forces the player to get close to enemies and use agility for successful gameplay.  However, landing a melee attack in a fully 3D environment would be difficult, so it automatically triggers when an enemy is within striking distance.


There are both friendly and enemy NPCs.  The player wins when all enemies are destroyed.  Friendlies and some enemies respawn from generators.  Protecting the friendly generators is valuable to prevent a mass of enemies attacking the player individually.  Each generator can support 5 NPCs, and a new NPC spawns after one is destroyed.  There are also birds, which are neutral and can't be damaged, but are sparse and hard to find in the current version.

The following video shows some gameplay.  Initially I protect the 3 friendly generators from a rush of enemies, then go out and destroy the enemy generators.  All enemies are destroyed and the level restarts, since there is no level 2 to load.


Use the following links to play the game yourself:

Play in Browser (Unity plugin required)

Download Standalone Version for Windows

If you try it in browser, you need to use full screen mode (right click the game screen).

Controls:
WSAD - Slide
QE - Twist (Useful if you're upside down and don't like that)
Left Click/ Right Click - Move Forward or Back (Initially unintuitive, this works well for a game that needs controls allowing for 6 degrees of freedom)

Feedback is appreciated.