Prototyping, I Guess

So this is...my third?) game-like thing?

Wait...first one, Dodgy Dancer, then Winter Quest demo, then that text one, then Spaceshipvania for the Metroidvania Month GameJam...

So like...fourth! Or fifth! I guess I'm a little more productive than I thought.

Anyway, I just kind of threw this together on a Saturday then tweaked it a bit to get it under a gig so I could upload it here, to itch.

INSPIRATION

I believe it's been about three years since I first read the book Dragons Love Tacos. It was one of many books my wife bought for us to read to our kids. After I got into game dev, I started looking for ideas for games anywhere I could, and I've found a lot in the books I've read for story time over the last three years. It's a very simple and straightforward narrative in which the author, David Salmieri, discusses the relationship between dragons and tacos and how tacos are beloved by dragons.

EXECUTION

So, what we have here is basically a prototype. You could even maybe say it's more of a tech demo? I don't know, I'm still learning a lot of the terminology in the biz.

Anyway, at this point I'm really good at starting up projects in Unity. I've done it a lot. I am getting close to those 10,000 hours, baby!

But finishing? That's a different story.

Basically it's just taken a lot of starting and then abandoning projects, using different frameworks, templates, projects, etc. to get to this point where I could put together something with a title screen, music, a gameplay screen, and a pause screen with the options to resume, quit to title, or quit altogether.

And there is a core gameplay loop! ...I think...still catching on to the jargon...

In this game you control a small dragon and collect tacos! There's even a taco counter UI!

And it all works!

CREDIT

But credit definitely needs to be given where it's due. The most I can take credit for is putting the title screen together and the pause screen. 

The two primary heavy-lifters are Malbers Animations and Synty Studios.

Synty provides the locale from their Meadow and Forest Nature Biomespack.

Malbers provides the dragon, the collectable prefab, and everything that goes with it - the logic, animations, controller, etc.

I did modify the collectable UI, though, by substituting a coin sprite with a taco sprite.

Oh, and in the prefab, subbing out the coin model for a taco and even figuring out getting the right materialon it!

I used PlayMakerfor programming the title screen and pause menu, and that I initially and mostly learned from Game Dev Unlocked.

Oh dang - and how could I forget the music? I love that music!! That's from a composer named Steven Melin and is part of his first Game Music Treasury collection.

All of these assets are available on the Unity asset store and I've linked to them with affiliate links - it's going to take me a long time to break even with what I've spent in there...

And all of this I'm typing up off the top of my head, so I may need to make some corrections later...

GETTING TO THE POINT

...and by the point, I mean the point at which I could sit down and do this.

I realize this likely isn't such a big deal to more seasoned devs and programmers.

It could pretty much be considered an asset flip since I've hardly customized any of the assets I've used. 

But it's taken me about two years of learning, trying, practicing, failing, succeeding, giving up, persisting for way too long, and just trying before I've been able to do this. 

And I did it without following a tutorial!

I consulted documentation a lot, but I didn't follow any video or anything telling me how to make a game like this. 

I decided what I wanted to do, what I want the game to do, and did it!

And it being the first time, it's a big deal right now. But I don't want it to be for too long.

For one thing, there's a LOT to improve - I want to refine the controls of the dragon and the camera. I want to customize the level. I want to layout the tacos in a more satisfying way. I want to add SOUND EFFECTS. I want to add in enemies and an objective and all that.

So, there's a lot more to do.

If this were me learning to ride a bike, then I just successfully rode without the training wheels for about six feet. ...something like that.

Anyway, I'm stoked!

There's a lot more I want to do - not just with this game, but in making more.

I'm not sure how far I'll go in refining this nugget, but I'll at least do a few more things for it...

Thanks for reading, thanks for playing, and sign up for my email list to follow along on what's to come!

Cheers!

==========================================

Remaining assets used:

Fantasy Map Creator

Prefab Brush +