It’s difficult to write a blog about a game I’ve been working on for already 6 months. I want to break down my process in neat chronological chunks, but the reality is that making a game as a full-time college student is a fiasco. Because this is my thesis, I’ve had to juggle the role of producer, director, programmer, and artist all simultaneously. Since I have a sizable team now (2 programmers, 1 UI designer, 4 artists, 1 sound designer), I have been wearing my producer/director hat a lot lately.

So I apologize for writing this blog in media res… but this is real life.

Let’s start with this – here are the two stars of our game. The player controls Robobunny and is guided by his creator Molly, the scientist. The first level involves destroying all the robots on the level so that Molly can come out of hiding and run to the emergency exit. From then on, Molly guides you from the security room where she watches the camera feeds, helps you open doors, hack into terminals, etc.

The goal of each level is the same – destroy all the enemies on the floor so that the scientists can escape. However, there are multiple ways to accomplish this goal. Robobunny lacks any built-in weapons, so his main method of attack is by building and setting mines. There are currently three types: Shrapnel, Shock, and Napalm. He constructs these from raw materials found in various laboratories and storage closets. There may also be an EMP button on the floor, though heavily guarded, and the fire sprinklers may also be utilized for water-phobic enemies.

The point is: this will be a relatively simple game with solid mechanics that will allow us freedom with the level design, AI, story, and polish. That’s all I have time to explain right now. Rest assured that the prototype will be done very soon! Maybe I’ll post some gameplay footage.

I’ll end each post with a completely unrelated paper concept! It’s always good to break away from long-term projects and rough out random ideas. Here is one for an idea my team and I created for our ‘Writing for Video Games’ class: In Midst of Spirits