LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

An Infestation is still in development! For more information on where the project is currently sitting, you can check out the blog. I am making regular updates on its progress, including multiplayer and turning it into an actual game!

As for the postmortem/analysis on An Infestations development below, it will stay as-is for the time being as an analysis on the original project. In the future, when development is finished or released, the section will be re-written to fit more closely with its current state.

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INTRODUCTION

During the COVID19 lockdown, I worked on two projects, the first being my Discord Bot called Impostor Bot and the second being another Among Us inspired project called An Infestation. After trying something new with the development of my Discord Bot, I decided to jump back into unity and finally create a spiritual sequel to my Zombie Game project. The result is an early version of an ambitious (Hopefully I finish one day) top-down horror shooter built around a lack of vision and darkness.

PROJECT GOALS

The first goal of the project was creating a simple top-down shooter, barebone and focusing on function. After the development of these basic functions was complete, I began brainstorming ideas for how to make the project unique.

Similar to my experience developing Impostor Bot, I was very inspired by Among Us for this project. I spent a lot of time with the game and loved how it handled lighting and vision from a 2D perspective, something I thought would work great in the game I was trying to create. So the next goal of the project was to replicate and merge this vision cone and lighting of Among Us, with a Fog of War effect from games like Age of Empires, to create a sense of realism from a 2D top-down perspective.

After achieving the main goals, I was satisfied with the work accomplished thus far and decided that was enough features for the first version. Not long after this, the COVID19 lockdown finished and the project got regrettably shelved, but ideas for future development did not. The overall goal of An Infestation now would be to create a story-driven, survival horror about the exploration of an abandoned colony or town with a fundamental focus on surprise.

PERSONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• I developed a new Unity project for the first time since University.
• I developed my first 2D Unity game, surprisingly more difficult than I first thought.
• I completed all project goals within the set time constraints.
• Achieved a greater understanding of Unity Systems, including the Camera, Render Textures, Meshes, Materials, Canvases, Scriptable Objects, to name a few.
• I successfully developed a FOV/FOG system and got experience creating 2D meshes within code.

LESSONS LEARNED

One lesson that seems to stand out the most in all projects I complete is confidence. There is a pattern of underconfidence when I start projects and then a pleasant surprise when I achieve what I set out to do. An Infestation was, as far as I can remember, quite the opposite. It was a project I started with legitimate confidence and a project that I ended with even more. Maybe this is more of a personal accomplishment rather than a lesson learned but, regardless, something to remember for the future.