RPG/Bullet Hell Mash-Up

Boss concept art

Inspiration

Our inspiration came from games like Tohou, Enter the Gungeon, and Undertale. The games story and art where inspired by System Shock, Warhammer 40k, Half Life, Chrono Trigger, and Bloodborne

What it does

The game is a top down 2D Bullet Hell with RPG mechanics. You can delve in to a story though dialogue with NPC's. The player is can shoot, run, and dash through a map created with tiles. The map contains enemies that follow the player and shoot complex patterns the player has to dodge while trying to damage the enemy with their own attacks.

How we built it

We built this project with the Unity game engine. The player's attacks and movement were made with C# scripts. The enemies attacks were created using unity's particle system and scripting that allowed for the creation of complex bullet patterns. The enemy movement used Unity's navmesh system for obstacle avoidance. Our dialogue was created using Inky and implemented in the project with the Ink unity plug-in. Our story team created the setting and plot of the game. They also wrote story script that our dialogue team used to create the Ink files we used in our project. Our art team created concept art for our enemies and worked with the programmers to design enemy attacks.

Challenges we ran into

The main challenge the team as a whole faced was communication. At the start of the project we were relying on our clubs discord to communicate so everything was very unorganized. Because members could not properly coordinate we would be in situations where everyone would try to work on their portion of the project alone and eventually get stuck on something that they needed from the other group members. The artist were waiting for the story team, the programmers had trouble integrating their code, and many members felt lost, not knowing exactly what they were supposed to do. This problem was eventually solved by getting our own server and the team making a greater effort to talk with all the other sections of the project.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Our Enemy programmer made a great enemy attack system that produces these large flowers like patterns of bullets that fill the entire screen Our Player programmer created a great movement system that makes dodging all these bullets feel smooth and responsive Our Story team created a complex story that inspired the art and the game mechanics. Our Artist created great concept art that we will be implementing in our game as we continue development.

What we learned

A lot of the team are beginner game devs who have learned a lot about the process of development and of computer science as a whole. They learned how to use the Unity engine and coding in C#. The artist learned to create art from the very unorganized ideas given to them form the rest of the team. The story team gained experience developing a story that could fit the needs of the game. I as a project lead learned a lot about leadership and project management that I had no experience with before.

What's next for RPG/Bullet Hell Mash-Up

We will continue developing the game in November. We are at a phase where we can start building the final demo for our project that includes the assets our artist will make and sound.