So the focus for this post was to consider the contents of this boilerplate project I am going to create. I need to think about and understand its requirements and then work out how I am going to establish these requirements within the project so that it can be re-used at the start of each title I want to work on.
With that said I also want to make sure I am creating something I can effectively prototype from without needing to set up lots of stuff at the start, this boilerplate should do it for me.
So my first thought was just to sit down and start plotting out things I might need, this ended up becoming a basic written list.
As I was doing this it felt that I was trying to do too much with regards to the hyper casual angle and not enough from the prototyping angle. I began to think I had taken on too much. After I had done this list I looked at it and through am I really going to need that many different control schemes at the start of a project. Well for prototyping yes I would, for hyper casual well perhaps no.
And it was that ‘perhaps’ that instigated my next avenue of research. What is the common make up of a hyper casual game?
Hyper Casual
Korman (2021) describes Hyper Casual as “games are lightweight games with simple mechanics that offer instant gameplay. Literally ‘tap to play.'” and she continues with “hyper-casual games are not only instantly playable but infinitely replayable, making them highly addictive and engaging.”
So perhaps I am over thinking this need for a library of different aspects when simplicity seems to be the key. However when you consider the article by Kinniburgh (n.d.) titled “Top 10 Game Mechanics For Hyper Casual Games” there is more to it than just a simple tap mechanic.
This is further supported when you consider the article by Wolstenholme (2021) which illustrates the vast variety of mechanics and games that can now be considered Hyper Casual with its content of the top 100 Hyper Casual Games of 2020. They can be seen in the video below.
So with these discoveries, and the exciting fact that hyper casual has come on a lot since its initial inception of tap to play, I think it is better to stick with the idea of creating a prototyping project rather than a hyper casual based project. This will allow me to develop the hyper casual game play a lot quicker as I will have a lot of pre-existing assets and mechanics ready to go at my disposal and will just need to tweak and change these where needed.
The content
So from this research and my initial thoughts I what I might need I have constructed the following list of things I need to get done. What I have found with from doing this is that there is a much higher need for basic art assets than code assets, although the work needed for the code asset creation will be greater. This is probably because of the nature of hyper casuals needing that simple mechanic supported by its visuals.
General
- Folder Structure – A semantic folder structure in order to be able to find required aspects and eliminate unneeded aspects.
- File Naming Convention – Again to ease the sorting and arranging of contents.
Controllers (with mobile support)
- First Person Controller
- Third Person Controller
- Top Down Controller (4 directional & 8 directional)
- Twin Stick Controller
Camera Scripts
- Follow Cam
- Attach Cam
AI Systems
- Move Towards/Rotate Towards
- NavMesh
- Pathing
Mechanics (NB this is where continued development will be needed)
- Interact
- Collectible
- UI Controller
- Game Manager
- Rotator
- Door Script
- Enemy Spawner
- Enemy Controller
- Weapon Controller
- Projectile
- Wave Controller
- Moving Platform
- Turret
- Dropper
Art (links for inspiration)
- Base Side on 2D tile map with (https://www.kenney.nl/assets/simplified-platformer-pack)
- Player Character
- Enemy Character
- Pick Up
- Platform Edge Left
- Platform Edge Right
- Platform Middle
- Wall/Block
- Base Top Down 2D tile map with (https://www.kenney.nl/assets/topdown-shooter)
- Ground Corner Top Left
- Ground Corner Top Right
- Ground Corner Bottom Left
- Ground Corner Bottom Right
- Ground Fill
- Wall Corner Top Left
- Wall Corner Top Right
- Wall Corner Bottom Left
- Wall Corner Bottom Right
- Wall Vertical
- Wall Horizontal
- Player Character
- Enemy Character
- Pick Up
- Isometric Art Pack (https://www.kenney.nl/assets/isometric-prototype-tiles)
- 3D Asset Pack (https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/prototyping-pack-free-94277)
- Walls
- Floor
- Stairs
- Bridge
- Ladder
- Tunnel
- Ramps
- Columns
- Chest
- Door
- Switch
- Textures (https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/2d/textures-materials/abstract/early-prototyping-material-kit-51761)
- Basic colours
- Brick
- Stone
- Grass
- Dirt
- Metal
- Sky
- Water
- Particles (https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/essentials/tutorial-projects/unity-particle-pack-127325)
- Fire
- Explosion
- Weapon Fire
- Water Splash
- Electric Spark
- others
- User Interface
- Button
- Slider
- Scrollbar
- Text Box
- Input Field
- Menus
- Static Vertical
- Static Horizontal
- Scrolling
- Carousel
- Expand/Contract
- Drop Down
- Radio Button
- Panel
- Basic SFX and BGM
So get on with it
So as you can see there is a lot when you think about it and a lot to get done. So jumping straight into Hack N Plan and producing the following is going to help
As you can see I am starting on the technical, although I think I will need to do art alongside as I will be creating prefabs for things as I go. I think when I get into it all this will change but I can quickly adapt the project management to suit.
Here goes.
References
Korman, R., 2021. Hyper-Casual Games | ironSource. [online] ironSource. Available at: <https://www.is.com/blog/resources/what-are-hyper-casual-games-and-how-do-you-monetize-them/> [Accessed 25 July 2021].
Kinniburgh, T., n.d. Top 10 Game Mechanics For Hyper Casual Games — Mobile Free To Play. [online] Mobile Free to Play. Available at: <https://mobilefreetoplay.com/top-10-game-mechanics-for-hyper-casual-games/> [Accessed 25 July 2021].
Wolstenholme, K., 2021. The Top 100 Hyper Casual Games of 2020 – RisingHigh Academy. [online] RisingHigh Academy. Available at: <https://risinghighacademy.com/the-top-100-hyper-casual-games-of-2020/> [Accessed 25 July 2021].
Youtube.com. 2021. Top 100 Best Hyper Casual Games of 2020 – 100 Hyper-Casual Games of the Year. [online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0SbFAXhGBY> [Accessed 25 July 2021].
Kenney.nl. 2021. Kenney • Free game assets. [online] Available at: <https://www.kenney.nl/assets> [Accessed 25 July 2021].
Unity Asset Store. 2021. [online] Available at: <https://assetstore.unity.com/> [Accessed 25 July 2021].
Docs.unity3d.com. n.d. Unity UI: Unity User Interface | Unity UI | 1.0.0. [online] Available at: <https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/com.unity.ugui@1.0/manual/index.html> [Accessed 25 July 2021].
Figures
Featured Image: Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash
Figure 1: Charlish, R (2021) ‘Sketchbook list of prototype content’ Created on July 25th 2021
Figure 2: Charlish, R (2021) ‘Project management for this task’ Created on July 25th 2021
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