Need guidance on project direction, format of play etc - Help me UnityBros, you are my only hope

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Hi all,

Notice: This is going to be a bit of a long post, but I hope if some of you find the time you will be able to read it and then answer. And sorry for just lurking here and not posting…

Rant
Last year I went beast mode on a project that was the product of prototyping and constantly getting new features, working on it everyday and logging my progress in Dev vids on YouTube. I have been self learning Unity for a while now, trying various mechanics and making prototypes for a couple of ideas - I am a software and web dev full time and love programming and games so it has been a fairly good transition into Unity with C#.

Unfortunately some stuff happened at work which prevented me from working on this project and then with additional stress I eventually found myself unable to do anything for it outside of work. End result was that I lost all motivation to work on that project and just feel like I can’t jump back into it because so much time had passed and I feel that I would have to refactor the whole thing.

New Idea
Now in December I started documenting an idea for a project, and I have started to architect the structure for it. It’s an improvement on a web based game I made a while back with some new features. The lowdown is management of your items, weapons and more in a web based environment, and then do missions etc in a Unity3D Application.

And here we come to the meat of this post. I am not sure on what way to approach this at all. Or whether I should even continue with this idea in this format. What I do know is the general idea of the gameplay I want to keep, so let me explain my possible scenarios and if you guys think you have any others, please suggest them.

  • Keep browser based management, community, etc and for missions use the WebPlayer
  • (a)Keep browser based management, community, etc and for missions fire up the game on the users PC and then return to the browser once complete.
  • (b)Make it a mobile game with everything in one place.
  • (c)Make it a PC Game
  • Something else?

Just some notes:
a) Is it possible to launch a Unity3D Player from a web browser much like when opening certain files it prompts to use an application if it exists ,and if so can an argument being passed to it? I believe the former is possible just not the latter.

b & c) The idea of both of these appeals to me, but I have no experience with the new UnityUI and although it seems intuitive and extendable I am scared about how long I will sink into making the games UI and menu structure. For size wise its going to be a number of entirely different menus, and pages including a market, player management, community, chat, guilds etc.

c) Controls. The U3D Component was originally going to be ‘RTS-ish’ in control scheme so not even sure if this is viable in this scenario however I have seen some mobile games of this genre.

Now I know there is a lot of meat in this post so thanks for reading it if you did. I know the obvious thing is go back to the drawing board on this one but I am settled on the idea. The code I have written is simply the structure of the solution where models and the database is concerned so it’s early enough to change the direction.

Making games would be my dream career, however I fear I have waited too long and would now have to sacrifice things in life in order to go down that route - so making a decent game that others can enjoy as much as me would really help me get things going.

Please assist in any way you can to answer my questions or give any advice, I would really appreciate it. Thanks again.

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a) dont think so, someone might be able to confirm. although youre a web-developer? you should know this.

b &c) you could make the pc the version where you play, the web/mobile apps to manage your stuff. Best way would probably be db driven. mysql etc. being a web-dev, sounds like this might be an easy approach for you

not sure what youre talking about with the control scheme… not sure what sort of game youre even trying to make.

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My input is less technical.

The best advice (support really) that I can offer is that it’s never too late! Everything we do in life is a sacrifice – or, rather, a benefit. It’s nice to relax on the couch with a bowl of chips and enjoy a Game of Thrones marathon. It’s also nice to hit the gym and come out feeling healthy. You benefit from both. It’s just a matter of deciding your balance. Even if the balance doesn’t leave you much time to work on your game, you can do it. Apart from my regular work in Unity, I spend 1 hour a week on a little side project, and it’s enough to make progress.

You mentioned that you prototyped in your previous project. Prototyping is where it’s at! Focus on the one core experience that you think will make your game fun. Skimp on everything else – gray cubes for art, no menu system, support only one device and resolution, etc. – and prototype the core gameplay experience. Recall a similar experience you’ve felt in real life and keep reworking the prototype until you make your friends to feel the same thing when they play it. And if it doesn’t work out, you haven’t lost that much time. Just dump the idea and prototype the next idea. (“Fail faster.”)

Once you have the core prototyped, the rest will fall into place much more naturally. Most of your questions about platforms will probably answer themselves.

I lied before. Here’s some semi-technical input.

  • Use Doxygen. Jacob Pennock wrote a free [Unity plugin](http://in your previous project). The act of documenting the input and output dependencies of your classes and methods will encourage you to keep them modularized. This will make it easier to refactor since you won’t have to worry about side-effects as much.
  • Use Trello. Or any kind of project management or wiki tool. It’s an easy way to keep your notes organized.
  • Blog your progress. Since you have limited time, you might think this is a waste. But it forces us to define our ideas with enough clarity that other people can understand them. You’ll also get helpful feedback and encouragement.

And have fun! :slight_smile:

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also this.

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Hey

a) Rewrite the browser based management to be in game unless you will be supplied with turnkey solution you don’t have to keep current with Unity versions yourself. But it is possible to launch a program from a web browser, even IE11 64 bit - I, no surprise here, can’t tell you how it’s done, but an example of one is the DAZ Installer launches from the DAZ Web Store after you buy a DAZ Store product (DAZ3D.com).

b & c) Well with Unity if you integrate the game modules right it’s a matter of publishing to each platform. You will likely get more downloads from mobile though. If you know your preferred style of game play I suggest you buy as many pieces of it as possible in the asset store as they will hopefully be making enough money to keep the assets you bought current with Unity and save you the hassle.

c) RTS games I haven’t played but likely in the asset store are menus and frameworks to eliminate most of that work for you and you can concentrate on customization for your game and it’s ‘look’.

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Thanks for your feedback man, and the link you posted seperately. I do have Db solution already setup using API calls etc… I like the idea of having the app just for management :slight_smile: Thanks again.

Awesome stuff TonyLi - thanks a bunch dude. I will check out Doxygen, I already document the game outside of code and will happily blog about. I really appreciate your feedback, and I will take all of it onboard - especially where prototyping and chilling out is concerned :slight_smile:

Thanks for confirming it - thought I had imagined it, I think it only works if you have the app which won’t be a problem :slight_smile: Another solution is clickonce deployment I think. Also I never thought of buying stuff from the asset store - I am worried it’s cheating? I am programmer first and foremost, and although I can sketch out what I want in the game (rough) it’s certainly not art, and I can’t model. So I have already looked at contacting companies that do 3D Modelling… Hopefully I can make it back! Great advice again.

Thank you to all the replies, logged on this morning, and I am glad I got some feedback! Put me in a positive mindset!