Engine
The game will be made using Unity, as this is more than capable of handling enough physics objects at once with sufficient optimization. My prototype was also made in Unity, and has easy to use plugins for things like the outlines, as well as optional ones like Cinemachine for the camera.
Controls
Controller
- Movement: Left Stick
- Jump: A
- Ability/Interact: X
- Cancel Ability: B
- Switch Ability: Y for Radial Menu, D-Pad for direct switch
Keyboard + Mouse
- Movement: WASD or Arrow Keys
- Jump: Space
- Ability/Interact: Left Mouse Button
- Cancel Ability: Right Mouse Button
- Switch Ability: Shift for Radial Menu, Number Keys for direct switch
Platforms
Ideally the game would be sold on both PC as well as the Nintendo Switch, as well as the PS5 and Xbox Series.
The Nintendo Switch in particular lends itself to games like Kinetic Panic due to the wide target demographic, and the gameplay loop through levels lending itself to pick-up-and-play opportunities which are great on a portable device. The game’s less demanding graphical style also lends itself to portable devices quite nicely.
For the same reason, releasing on PC would be a great idea, as a Steam release would mean the possibility of Steam Deck support. The game’s precise controls, high skill ceiling and time-based leaderboards might make it inviting to more hardcore players on PC as well.
As the game’s controls will be fully optimized for controller, a release on Xbox Series and PS5 would also increase the game’s reach but only if sufficient time and budget was put into porting and verifying the game for these systems.
System Requirements
The minimum requirements should be kept low due to the very large target demographic of family players.
Minimum:
- OS: Windows 7 64-bit
- Processor: 3.0 GHz Dual Core Processor
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: DirectX 11 Graphics adaptor with 2GB VRAM
- Storage: 6 GB available space
Recommended:
- OS: Windows 10/11 64-bit
- Processor: 3.2 GHz Quad Core Processor
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: DirectX 12 Graphics adaptor with 2GB VRAM
- Storage: 6 GB available space