Survival of the Cubest is a 3rd-Person Action Souls-Like inspired by my love of challenging games and agar.io. It contains one vertical slice level centered around a size mechanic. The player plays as a slime with limited resources. They must gather the keys to access a teleporter while avoiding or confronting other slimes. This was my first attempt at a complete game.
Role: Solo Developer
Platform: Unity 3D
Work Time: 8 weeks
FEATURES
Size Mechanics
The player can grow and shrink depending on a variety of factors.
The player grows when consuming enemies, and shrinks when taking damage. Enemies larger than the player cannot be consumed.
The player can also shrink when tossing projectiles, and grow when picking them back up.
Projectiles
The player can fire two types of projectiles, one that spreads across the ground and slows enemies. Another projectile can bait enemies from a certain radius, attracting them while distracting them from the player.
These projectiles take "damage". When enemies consume projectiles or come into contact with them, the projectile is weakened. And if the player picks up this weakened projectile, there will be diminishing returns.
Enemy AI
The enemies are designed with a very simple AI using the NavMeshAgent. They will chase after the player on sight or chase after the player's last known location if the player leaves their sight.
Pathfinding is not implemented but considered, because enemies can sometimes spot the player, but there is no direct path to the player.
Teleporter & Keys
Teleporters give player access to different locations on the level. They may have a size requirement to activate. Sometimes the player may need to shrink, other times, they may need to grow to use the teleporter.
Each teleporter has it's own unique target teleporter, so TeleporterA may take the player to TeleporterB, but TeleporterB may take the player to TeleporterC instead of back to TeleporterA.
Character Controller
A simple character controller, allowing the player to move and rotate the camera, as well as perform the actions above, including consuming enemies and firing projectiles.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Survival of the Cubest was my first non-tutorial style game. The main objective was to make a complete vertical slice that is both fun and challenging. It was also my first test of knowledge when it comes to Unity development.
It was very challenging, and the code is full unnecessary coupling and dependencies across scripts. Reflecting now, I could definitely make this game a lot better, but I'm still very proud of what I had accomplished.