The Programming

The Programming

I worked on the programming for the game in Unity 2017 concurrently with the design. 

It has been awhile since the last time I worked on a game back in college days. So, I've decided to start with something simple and split out the core gameplay mechanic into bite-sized sections. In this case, it is just a simple visual novel, making 2 choices, and if one outweighs the other, it will lead to a different endings. Below is the list of sections that made up the game itself:

- Dialogue display/typewriter effect

- Dialogue database between characters (All done internally in Unity without importing external text sheet)

- Scene transitions (Fading in/out)

- Scene manager (To stitch together the progression. For example, like what scene comes after the next one)

- Slideshow cutscene (Pairing sets of images and have them dynamically display based on the current scene)

- Action keys during slideshow (Press any key to proceed)

- Action keys during gameplay (Press any key during dialogue sessions. Enable buttons during choice selection screen)

- Choice controller (Gather the data on choices made to determine which final cutscene to play)

- Music Player (Music volume will be automatically lowered during the dialogue sessions and doesn't overlap on game replay)

Other tasks:

- Sound effect on button presses.

- Screen resolution adjustments to find which ratio fits the game best.

There were also tasks that I had failed to accomplish due to timeline:

- Animating the cutscenes, so they aren't just static slideshows  or at the very least add some particle/light effects.

- Animating the characters during their dialogue

- Have 3-4 more characters

- 3 endings. The additional one will be a neutral choice and ending.

- More weight on the gameplay. Maybe adding some quirky mechanics instead of just picking your answers.

- Composing music/sound effects. But I'm bad with mixing.

Thanks for reading! :)