Over the last 4 months I decided to make a mobile game in Unity for my senior project. I learned a lot about mobile development and what components are the most important to a mobile game. From my experience on this project, I learned these concepts:
-User Interface is one of the most important elements in a mobile game
-The User Interface must be very simplistic and clear to the player at all times
- The controls can take several iterations to get something that players will be happy with
-It is important to take advantage of the phones features and add things like tilting and vibration
-Feedback is crucial to a mobile game and I discovered sound effects are a great option
What went well:
Within the 4 months of development, I was able to get some base gameplay. I had multiple enemy types, different level environments, and a couple of different mechanics that players really enjoyed. Since this was my first solo project, I was very happy with my time management and being able to meet milestone requirements for the game. I was also happy that I learned quickly how Unity works and being able to quickly create content. I received positive feedback from the playtesters and this was very satisfying. Making the big design change to allow players to chose powerups was a smart decision. Players were really excited to be able to chose how they want to approach a level and this allowed for more replayability.
What I would of changed:
If I were to do this project again, I would of started with the user interface first before working on gameplay. I spent a lot of time researching what makes a successful interface on the mobile device and knowing this before development would of saved me some time. Another thing I would of done differently was keep my outliner more organized in my Unity project. When I first started development, I wasn't grouping my gameobject in a organized way and this made it difficult for debugging. I have since reorganized my outliner to find objects easier. The final thing I would of changed would be to fully flush out the design of the game. At first I knew I wanted to do a platformer, but wasn't sure about what mechanics I wanted to go into it. I discovered new mechanics as I was developing the game throughout the semester. It would of been nice to have a clearer idea of the mechanics before starting development.
Overall I was pretty happy with my first 4 months work on A Universal Problem and learned a lot about mobile development in Unity. I discovered I really enjoy working in this editor and understand why it is becoming more popular with game companies. I also discovered that I like scripting and would enjoy writing scripts for a career. The component based architecture of Unity makes it easy to organize objects and made my experience much more enjoyable. I will be working on the game through April until graduation.
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