Contents Page

We have always enjoyed playing games since we were young and wanted to try making games. From MOBA games to open world RPGs, we have enjoyed a variety of different genres of games. We want to create a game that gives people a rush of excitement and adrenaline, as well as the urge to continue playing, just like the experiences we had playing our favourite games.

Aim

We want to create a 2D Platformer Game that is engaging and accessible. This means focusing on clear mechanics that are easy to grasp but offer depth and challenge as players progress. On the technical side, smooth gameplay is a priority. We'll strive for clean, efficient code that minimises bugs and ensures a frustration-free experience. This might involve using beginner-friendly tools or frameworks initially, while keeping an eye on learning more advanced coding techniques as we develop our skills.

Project Scope:

Game Overview

One sentence version:

"Arctic Meltdown" is a 2D platformer where players guide Pippin, a prehistoric penguin, through a melting Arctic, uncovering ancient mysteries and overcoming obstacles in a visually captivating adventure.

Longer descriptive version:

"Arctic Meltdown" is a 2D platformer game that follows the journey of Pippin, a prehistoric penguin, as he navigates through an ever-changing and melting Arctic environment. Players will guide Pippin from the depths of the Earth’s core, overcoming various obstacles and uncovering the mysteries of his ancient world. It promises an engaging and visually captivating journey that blends adventure and platforming elements. By guiding Pippin through his icy adventure, players will experience a rich storyline and challenging gameplay, making "Arctic Meltdown" a memorable addition to the 2D platformer genre.

Storyline

Deep beneath the ice, where the ancient whispers of the Earth are frozen in time, lived a prehistoric penguin named Pippin. Pippin, whose existence was a testament to a forgotten era, had been in a state of suspended animation for millennia. His coat was as dark as the midnight sea, and his eyes sparkled with the wisdom of ages past. However, the relentless grip of global warming had finally reached his icy sanctuary, and the thawing ice gently nudged him back to consciousness.

Awakening from his long slumber, Pippin found himself in a world vastly different from the one he knew. His heart, stout and courageous, beat with a renewed purpose:

The journey back to the Arctic surface.

Are you ready to step into the ice and relive the past? Guide Pippin through his perilous journey, unravel the mysteries of the ancient world, and overcome the odds in this unforgettable adventure.

Class Hierarchy

Randomised Map Concept

User Stories

As a player, I want to control Pippin's basic movements so that I can navigate through the levels.
As a player, I want to help Pippin overcome obstacles so that I can progress through the game.
As a player, I want to engage with and defeat enemies so that I can protect Pippin and advance through the game.
As a player, I want to discover new areas and biomes so that I can explore different environments within the game.
As a player, I want to use collected coins to purchase upgrades for Pippin so that I can enhance his abilities and improve my gameplay experience.
As a player, I want to collect health pickups scattered throughout the levels so that I can restore Pippin’s health and survive longer.
As a player, I want to be able to reach different levels of difficulty so that it enhances my ability to deal with more.

Development

The above is an example of how we tracked the development using git on Github, through basic branching and merging.

Technical Specifications

Platform:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
Minimum OS requirement: Windows 10 64-bit
Engine: Unity
Graphics:
Pixel Art style and 2D animations to create a unique visual experience.
Sound and Music:
Sound effects for character actions, environmental interactions, and enemies.
Ambient background soundtrack for a relaxing feel.
Controls: Keyboard and mouse

Tech Stack

Unity
Github
Adobe premiere
Canva

Application usage (Only supports Windows OS)

Download the zip file from here.
Extract the contents of the zip file to your preferred destination.

Once the game file runs, the game will begin. Control Player movements with

“W” or “Space” key to jump.
“A” key to move left.
“D” key to move right.
“S” key to crouch.
Left-click to attack
Game objective is to make it to the last level without losing all your health.

Technical Proof

Features

Story:
Immersive storyline focusing on Pippin's awakening and journey overcoming enemies within the Earth’s crust.
Levels and Environments: .
Progressive Difficulty: Increasingly challenging levels with new obstacles and enemies.
Randomised Maps: Every replay of the game will regenerate a new map at random, ensuring an almost new feel to the game, no matter how many times you replay it.
Character Abilities:
Basic Movements: Walking, jumping, sliding
Attacks: Melee and Ranged
Multiple UI screens:
Main Menu: To allow for easy navigation to different segments of the game.
Pause Menu: To allow players to take a quick break or restart if their progress is unsatisfactory. Also allows players to easily adjust the volume of the in-game sound effects.
Death Menu: Similar to the Pause Menu.
Enemies and Obstacles:
Hazards: Traps
Enemies: Ancient Creatures that have awakened alongside Pippin, consisting of 3 main types:
Patrolling (Melee)
Ranged
Flying (Melee)

UI Menus

Main Menu

Upon Entering the game, the user will be brought to the main menu screen where he will be given the option to read the jump right into the game, read the story of Pippin, see the instructions on the controls of the game, and to exit the game.

The STORY button will bring the user to a scene with multiple pages. The user can use the “PREVIOUS” and “NEXT” buttons at the bottom of the screen to navigate between the pages and read up on the story of Pippin.

The CONTROLS button will bring the user to a page that will show the controls of the game, allowing new players to familiarise themselves with the keys to press in order to play the game. The Main Menu button at the bottom right of the page allows for the user to return to the main menu to begin their adventure.

Pause Menu

Upon pressing the escape key while the game is active, time within the game will come to a stop and the pause menu will be activated. The image above shows what players will be shown upon pausing the game. By using the arrow keys to navigate the snowflake across the options, players can adjust the volume of the in-game sounds and music just by clicking on the respective buttons. They can choose to return back to the main menu or even quit the game from there. Upon resuming, time within the game will return back to normal.

Death Menu

When the player’s health falls below 1, the player will die and a loud bell will ring. This will activate the Death Menu. From here, the player will be able to decide whether to return to the main menu, restart the level, or exit the game. Restarting the level will restart the game from the latest level reached by the player, with full health, and the player’s original coin count.

Camera Effects

On top of the respective camera scripts written for the various camera effects such as camera shaking, or following the Player from room to room, we have added a “Pixel Perfect Camera” component to all our camera game objects to change the look of our non pixelated sprites into a pixel art, enhancing our choice of a pixel art design for our game.

Enemies

Patrolling Enemy

Moves back and forth within the platform area
Attacks upon contact with Player
Melee attacks

Flying Enemy

Has a small detection range
Will chase Player upon detection
Returns back to its original position once Player escapes the detection range or leaves the current room
Melee attacks

Ranged Enemy:

Has a small detection range
Will be alerted once Player enters detection range
Will attack Player upon detection
Stop attacking once player leaves the detection range or leaves the current room
Ranged and Melee attacks

Collectables

Health Pickup:

The health pickup is represented using a heart shape, which is the same as the health icons on the top left of the screen, signifying the player’s health. Colliding into the health pickup will replenish 1 of the hearts lost if the player's health is not full.

Coin Pickup:

The coin pickup is represented using a coin icon. A tracker of how many coins the player has collected while playing the game is positioned at the top left of the screen UI, right below the health. Collecting a coin will increase the tracker count. At the end of each level, the player will be able to access a shop where he can use the collected coins to purchase power ups to upgrade their skills as the game progresses to further later levels.

Power Ups

Each power up costs 3 coins to purchase.

They are currently only purchasable at the end of each level.

Name	Description	Icon
Increased Maximum Health	Maximum number of hearts the Player can possess will be increased by one.
(i.e. more health)
Increased Movement Speed	Player’s horizontal movement speed is doubled.
(i.e. run faster)
Increased Jump Count	Maximum number of consecutive jumps before landing on the ground or wall is increased by one.
(i.e. more jumps)
Increased Jump Force	Height of each jump is increased by 2 units.
(i.e higher jumps)
Reduce Attack Cooldown	The duration of the interval between consecutive attacks from the player is reduced.
(i.e. faster attack speed)

User Testing

On 18th June, We conducted a few tests by playing the game ourselves and letting our friends play it too. We have then recorded down the feedback gathered and implemented the respective changes for an improved experience.

Criticism:

Jumping feels like “floating”
Sometimes player gets stuck to the walls
Controls might not be obvious for new players
Too difficult to find coins
Pause menu still accessible when death screen is active
Flying enemies chases Player into next room
Ranged enemies from other rooms also attacks the Player if within range
Unable to tell at which range the ranged enemies detect the Player
Death menu does not activate when Player dies mid-air
Going from pause screen to main menu, and then to a new game will result in the game freezing

Compliments:

Game startup is pleasing to watch
Randomness of map layouts interesting to explore
Death screen very nice
Pleasing background music
Game controls are easy to learn and pick up.

Improvements:

Added increased gravity when falling downwards
Added material with no friction to box colliders to prevent sticking
Added a controls page that players can access from the main menu
Increased the spawn rate of coins within the maps
Fixed issue to make pause screen inactive if death screen is active
Flying and ranged enemies now check if Player is in the same room before attacking
Added “alerted” animation for ranged enemies, giving the Player a visual cue upon detection
Activation of the death menu changed to player health rather than death animation
Reset the time back to normal speed when exiting the pause menu no matter what

System Testing

We conducted a series of tests to ensure that the following features function as expected. We integrated both *automated *testing and *manual *testing.

Tests

Test Case Number	Test Case	Results
1	Open game for the first time	Camera begins shaking and then pans upwards shortly after to the top where the Main Menu is.
2	Click the “Controls” button	Brings the user to a page showing the keybinds to play the game.
3	Click the “Quit” button	Game exits back to the desktop if the game is downloaded onto the Windows device. If playing the WebGL build, the game will freeze.
4	Click the “Story” button	Game brings the user to a screen showing multiple pages of the game’s storyline.
5	Click the “Start” button	Game begins with the player having 3 hearts and 0 coins.
6	Left-click in game	Player’s “attack” animation is activated and snowball objects shoot out of the player's front.
7	Click the “escape” key on the keyboard in game	Pause Menu is activated and time in-game is halted.
8	Click the “Resume” button in the Pause Menu	Pause Menu is deactivated and time in-game is returned back to normal.
9	Colliding with the floating coins	Coin counter at the top left of the screen increases the count by one.
10	Colliding with floating hearts	If health is not full, the number of red hearts at the top left of the screen will increase by one, else nothing will happen.
11	Click the “Main Menu” button from the Pause Menu	The Main Menu scene is loaded in.
12	Click the “Sounds” button from the Pause Menu	The volume of in-game sound effects changed. The number next to the button updates accordingly.
13	Click the “Music” button from the Pause Menu	The volume of the background music changed. The number next to the button updates accordingly.
14	Lose all health in game	Death Menu screen is activated.
15	Click the “Main Menu” button from the Death Menu	The Main Menu scene is loaded in.
16	Click the “Quit” button from the Death Menu	Game exits back to the desktop if the game is downloaded onto the Windows device. If playing the WebGL build, the game will freeze.
17	Click the “Restart” button from the Death Menu	Current level is reloaded with the original health and coins that the player entered the level with.
18	Get attacked by enemies	If Health before being attacked is more than one, one of the red hearts in the health bar will turn black. Else Death screen will be activated.
19	Exit current room and enter the next room	Camera will pan to the player's current room.
20	Enter range of ranged enemies	The “alert” animation of the enemy will play, followed by the enemy throwing a rock in the direction of the player’s current position.
21	Enter range of flying enemies	Flying enemies will begin flying towards the Player and when close enough, will perform a melee attack on the Player.
22	Stand in front of patrolling enemies	When the enemy walks up to the Player, it will stop upon contact and attack the Player repeatedly until the Player dies.
23	Walk into portal object in the Exit room	The next level is loaded in and camera pans to the Player in the new room location.
24	Move horizontally while crouching	Slide animation is active and Player’s speed is increased slightly. Particle effects are also present.

Automated Testing

We have integrated Unity's automated testing unit into our development process to enhance our testing procedures. We've incorporated various test cases within our Test script and utilised the Test Runner to execute them, ensuring the reliability and functionality of our game features.

This approach streamlines our testing efforts significantly. Instead of manually testing the game after every code update or component addition, we rely on automated tests to verify both existing and newly implemented features, ensuring seamless integration and maintaining overall product quality.

Current Progress:

Maps generation works
Player movement and interaction is smooth
Patrolling melee enemy functional
Flying enemies functional
Ranged enemies functional
Traps and hazards functional
End of game scene
Integrated audio into the game
Health system works
Game camera movement follows player stage
Starting behaviour of the camera allows for a quick visual introduction of the game.
Player attack works
The multiple UI screens work.

To-do:

Implement a proper shopping system so as to allow players to choose what to buy, rather than being forced to buy what powerup is randomly spawned
Improve UI for smoother user experience
Update the art for the “Story” component of the game

Credits

Sound Effects:

2D Assets:

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 168 Commits
Combined		Combined
Images		Images
.gitattributes		.gitattributes
.gitignore		.gitignore
README.md		README.md

Folders and files

Latest commit

History

Repository files navigation

Contents Page

Project Information

Project Scope:

Game Overview

Storyline

Class Hierarchy

Randomised Map Concept

User Stories

Development

Technical Specifications

Tech Stack

Technical Proof

Features

UI Menus

Main Menu

Pause Menu

Death Menu

Camera Effects

Enemies

Patrolling Enemy

Flying Enemy

Ranged Enemy:

Collectables

Health Pickup:

Coin Pickup:

Power Ups

User Testing

System Testing

Tests

Automated Testing

Credits

About

Resources

Uh oh!

Stars

Watchers

Forks

Releases

Packages 0

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Contributors

Uh oh!

Languages

Packages