Env is a first-person abstract survival platformer game
The foundation of the gameplay is a physics simulation in which I generate a very large flat grid of brick shaped objects, which get pulled apart / sucked up by 2 different physics actors with different behaviors - one a giant beam in the sky sucking things up, and the other a ball which flies around pulling everything in toward it. These are implemented with a modified version of Circular Gravity Force by Lanemax (Circular Gravity Force | Particles/Effects | Unity Asset Store)
You play an insignificant avatar in first person, and you have to move around this environment, not falling into the ‘water’ whilst collecting bits of ‘food’ in order to not starve, and grabbing bits of ‘tech’ to upgrade your speed jump, making it easier to not die!
Additionally, the code I’ve written for this project can be seen here in case anyone is interested, excluding any code from standard packages / paid-for packages
Well that is original, I have to give you that. Also it is like orgasm for my eyes watching that ray wrecking havok.
If I might add, I think that the sphere though it’s pretty un-interesting compared to the ray. Maybe you should design them like Yin-Yang.
One destroying the lands and the other trying to pull it back together. An eternal strife between the two.
I think it will be a challenge to make it optimized, entertaining and long enough to keep the player satisfied.
I like your suggestion, I did originally plan to have it so you could directly reverse the effects of both the beam and the sphere. I quickly realised that idea, like yours, would probably make it more fun, but it wouldn’t be coherent with theme - there aren’t 2 opposing forces, there is nothing trying to pull it back, and the changes are irreversible. I’m not trying to make money with this, so I’d rather the meaning of it be internally consistent then the whole game be more entertaining. That can come later
That said, I’m certainly not trying to avoid it being entertaining! It’s been… challenging to keep it optimized, draw calls are super low if shadows are off, but the physics calcs are obviously fairly significant. All the pieces in the grid are Kinematic until they are being affected by one of the actors, which pretty much saves the day. As far as being long enough, you have to survive for 6 minutes for the game to end, it’s not intended to be long, but its challenging enough that it’ll likely take a good few runs to complete
I LOVE IT!!! It’s looks great and is a great idea!!! My suggestion make sure the distance between platforms is not farther than the players furthest jump. That might mean putting a clamp on the distance of newly created objects!!! HOwever, I haven’t played it yet, but willl
Very cool concept, I can see how this could be adapted to become an analogy of… Life and death, perhaps. Or the finality/inevitability of dying. It might sound like quite a depressing theme, but with the right visual style and atmosphere, it could turn into something very intriguing. Artsy even, for lack of a better word. I dig the world destroying super beam, it’s equally fascinating and terrifying.
@ Kinos141 - Glad you liked it Thanks for the suggestion, when the game starts all the pieces are together in a block, and they are moved around dynamically when being affected by the physics - so the distance between them is not something I intend to try and control
@ Perpetual Diversion - Thanks! I’m no visual artist, so I don’t really know how to represent this kind of theme as a visual style. I am a programmer however, so I’ve worked instead to represent the theme in the behaviour interaction of the gameplay systems. I’m not opposed to having a visual style to back it up, but I lack the skillset needed for it, however I do like your suggestion (I’m definitely into depressing themes :)).
It does, however, already have an analogy - my impression of our environment the forces acting on it changing it - to represent the kind of theme your suggesting I would re-design the mechanics to support that. That being said, I’m really glad to see someone takes a different interpretation of it! Thanks again
edit: btw I checked out your site, some really good looking stuff there, do any of those projects have playable builds available?
@Adrianis: Me too, depressing themes are strangely compelling. Not in a depressing way though, more like in a fascination-way.
Oh yeah, that makes sense now that you mention it! That’s the cool thing about subtle/interpretative themes, people project different meaning to it. Most often something that is similar or at least relatable to the actual theme.
Thanks for the comment and for taking a look at my site! The only one I’ve got a build for is Mortal Spire. I might be able to get a build of Eira’s Tale up too, the rest are WIP or lost in the void somewhere.
Thanks guys, really pleased to hear people like it
@angrypenguin - Sounds good, please do! I’d be interested to see what you come up with
@sti4thewin - Cool! let me know what you think of the game when you do
I’m currently testing a final build, representing about 7 weeks worth of work, which I’ll post up when it’s done, along with a new video.
It has mostly the same features as the build in the OP, with some tweaked gameplay, extra sounds, slightly better performance some bug fixes.
For anyone that has not already, go read this thread, the advice there is invaluable
I’ll finish my current project first, but I really do love this idea, and I’ve already come up with a couple of mechanics which I think would go really well with it.
Just updated the OP with new links to the (tentatively) finished build, give it a go let me know if you have any issues / suggestions / feedback
Should hopefully have a new video of a complete playthrough up soon! Been delayed by the start of a new project on a new frankly incredibly exciting engine (sorry Unity, I still love you I’ll be back for you :))
@ Gigiwoo: Thanks, I appreciate it!
@ angrypenguin: Awesome, let me know what you come up with! It’d be cool to see, and maybe we’ll get some cross-pollination of ideas going
