Unity 2D Platformer Project

Phase 1 - Planning

     For my project I wanted to make a 2D platformer with an emphasis on vertical down to up movement instead of the usual horizontal left to right movement. At the time, I had thought that it would be different, as that type of level layout is fairly uncommon for 2D platformers.

     Later on during my brainstorming, I thought of adding in an auto scroll component to it too. A lot of auto scrolling games have that left to right layout, and there’s not really a feeling of danger present when just looking at a screenshot of the game itself. I thought that my layout would allow for me to add in something that conveyed danger, even if someone was looking at a still image of my game. This came in the form of a large pool of acid that would gradually rise.

Phase 2 - Assets

     Since I was fairly new to Unity, I wanted to keep my assets simple so I could focus more on coding. I made some brick patterns, some supports, the player, the acid, and then the flag.

      I wanted the color scheme to be simple, red and blues for the background, keeping the blues light so as to not contrast too much with the more vibrant red. I wanted the player to be a color that would stand out, so I went with a yellow circle as the player character. I wanted the ‘danger pool’ to be something that was recognizable as a ‘danger pool’, so I went with green and added bubbles to give the impression that it was acid or toxic waste, which is commonly used in games.

     While I was working on the programing, I realized that it was difficult to see exactly how the player character was moving. I went back to my drawing program and quickly made a new player character sprite, which was the same yellow sphere, but with a smiley face on it, to remedy this.

     I had also wanted the end point flag to have 2 animations, one of it waving, and then a transparent yellow aura around it that would move. I had to scrap this due to time constraints.

Phase 3 - Coding and Coding Issues

     This was one of my first big Unity programming projects, so there were a lot of issues. The issue I recall the most vividly was trying to get my object collision to detect. I had tried everything that I had read, only to realize that I had to specify that the collision was 2D.

     I had some small coding issues that were easily solved, and mostly happened due to a lack of knowledge regarding Unity, or just a small thing that was forgotten. The map rotating instead of the player, the acid pool immediately dropping into the negative thousands, etc. These were quickly fixed, but still important to note.

     Also there were definitely better ways to code the map layout, and maybe even add levels.

Conclusion

     I have had more experience with Unity now, and I can say there are quite a couple of things I would do differently if I ever revisited this project. I have a more solid grasp on animation, so I would definitely now add in that flag animation, and even one for the acid. I would also probably make more levels, and add some interesting mechanics to the game, such as powerups, to make it more distinct.