Prototype 1 – Iteration & Technical Challenges

Game Idea 1 – Fire spread prototype

Goal:

I wanted to create a quick prototype to prove to myself that I could code a basic fire spread in Unity. Also, I needed to make sure that the spawning and spreading visual felt satisfying enough to be the core concept / mechanic.

Technical Implementation:

I created a basic Unity prototype where you click/drag to spawn cube GameObjects. This GameObject was a prefab with a script that made it duplicate in a surrounding area every few seconds until the screen was full.

Although it wasnt very technical this was the main features i created:

• Cube prefab GameObject with an option to add a texture.
• Script: OnMouseDown that spawned a cube at the clicked position
• Script: self duplication timer which created a copy in a random manor around the circle every couple of seconds

Testing:

• My main outcome that I wanted was for the feeling and look of this “fire spread” to be satisfying. I think I succeeded in accomplishing this by keeping the project size small to avoid any need for optimization.
• Stepping into the players shoes however, although it was satisfying it does leave the player feeling like what’s the point? It either needs to be quicker fire spread, or needs to have some sort of goal.

Critical evaluation & assessment:

• By designing this basic prototype I feel it has validated the concept and proved that it could be visually satisfying with VFX built in. Unity’s easy implementation helped this process immensely.
• This also proved that I can code the basic mechanics but it didn’t validate whether or not I should continue to develop the concept. There’s a massive gap between the prototype just working and if it’s worth developing. I would need to build a rough but functioning gameplay experience to test this but i dont have the time or VFX knowledge to do this solo before moving onto the next phase.