Game Idea Research

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Image caption: Unity logo

This blog post is about my game idea! I decided to go with my game idea called "Drive Baby Drive!". I picked this game as I thought it would be the easiest one to achieve and upon doing further research, there are plenty of tutorials on YouTube to follow and to help me make the game! Here are some of the tutorials that I found; "Collecting Coins in Unity - Beginner Tutorial || Mini Ep 2", "HOW TO CREATE A COUNT DOWN TIMER IN C# UNITY TUTORIAL" and here is a playlist on how to create your first game on unity; "HOW TO MAKE YOUR FIRST GAME IN UNITY". The playlist was made by a YouTuber who has loads of different tutorials up on his channel! I can see his channel becoming my favourite place. 

The game is a car game, you would have to drive the car around the track and collect coins along the way. You would have to avoid obstacles like fire and other things I will place around the track. You will have to collect a certain amount of coins to complete the game. There will be a timer and if you don't collect the coins in that time the game will be over. It will be a 3D game of course. To lose the game you will have to either crash into an object you're not meant to touch, not collect the coins in the said amount of time or crash into the surrounding area. Below are three game mechanics.

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Image caption: Car driving game similar to what I hope to do

Rewards and Collectables:

Having a rewards system in my game will make the player want to continue to play it. If this wasn't in it then there might not be any motivation to play said game. I know from playing Super Mario/Kart the sense of coming first in the tournament and getting the trophy or even in Super Mario when you can collect more coins meaning you get an extra life! You can also collect the big star coins, there are three per level and the pure adrenalin you get from trying to get them is immense. It really makes you want to play the game. In the tutorial “Collecting Coins in Unity - Beginner Tutorial || Mini Ep 2” It runs through how to make a coin, and in really simple terms and it’s really easy to follow it. I will definitely be using this to make my coins in the game. Once the player drives into the coin, the coin should disappear. 

I also want to aim to be able for the coin to make a noise when it is collected. “Unity Tutorial | Coin Pickups, Sound effect and UI” This tutorial will come in handy not only does it go through how to out a sound effect on the coin, but it also shows you how to create text on the screen. This will display how many coins you have collected. I plan on adding this to the game in order to keep track of how many are collected. 

Obstacles: 

I stated in my game idea that I would have game obstacles in the game. I now have researched specific obstacles and there are some great ones out there! I went browsing the asset store and on YouTube to see what I could come up with. In the game you will have to avoid these obstacles and if you crash into them the game is over. I have found different tutorials on how to make buildings but also free buildings on the asset store. The ones on the asset store would come in handy as then I could spend more time on the code instead of making the buildings. I wasn’t sure if I’d have just a wall surrounding the area or a fence but then I thought of placing buildings to make it more interesting and then when the car crashes into them the game is over. My plan is to only have the buildings in one part of the course. Other obstacles I am thinking of is a fire hydrant, trees, other cars and fire. The first three are available on the asset store for free. For the fire there are plenty of tutorials on YouTube like this one. I will continue researching and brainstorming to see if I can think of any more obstacles to add as I think it’ll be more fun if there are more! It gives the user more of a reason to keep playing, if they lose the first few rounds because they crashed they will be determined to won then and try to avoid the obstacles.

Timer:

Another big thing in the game is the timer. I was on the fence about including a timer, but I think it’ll make it more interesting and make people want to play the game more. In the game you would have to get certain about of coins before the timer goes to zero. I still haven’t decided on a time, I think this would have to be done when the game is near finished as I won’t know how much time you would need to complete the game. I imagine it’ll take a few trial and errors in order to figure this out. Obvioulsy, there is no point putting in the timer for two minutes if it’s easily done in that time, on the other side no point putting the timer for 20 seconds if it’s impossible done.

I am really excited to see how I end up making the game, of course, I have plans but there will always be something that comes up out of the blue but I’m excited to see what is to come.

-Megan