Play the Game: Wave Spawner
Brief:
“Choose a game engine and make a significant piece of a game.”
About the game:
Final major project
Engine: Unity
Language: C#
Team Size: Solo
Development time: 2 months
This project is a wave-based action game where the player must survive increasingly challenging waves of enemies. The core objective is to defeat incoming alien enemies while using positioning and movement across six platforms to manage pressure and avoid being overwhelmed.
The project builds upon mechanics developed in two earlier prototypes, a shooter game and a platformer game. These systems were refined, combined and expanded to create a more complete and cohesive gameplay experience.
My Role and Contributions:
- Designed the core gameplay loop focused on survival, positioning and escalating difficulty
- Integrated and adapted gameplay systems from earlier prototypes into a single project
- Modified and updated existing scripts to function correctly within a newer version of Unity
- Designed and implemented menus and user interface elements
- Created character animations and menu animations to support visual clarity and feedback
- Debugged and resolved gameplay and system issues through testing and iteration
- Designed and implemented a dedicated tutorial level to improve onboarding and player understanding
The tutorial level was created specifically to introduce mechanics gradually and reduce confusion for new players. Existing systems were reused where possible and adapted when necessary to support clear learning and progression.
Design Focus:
A key design goal was to encourage strategic movement rather than static play. The six-platform layout was designed to give players meaningful positional choices when responding to enemy waves. Difficulty escalation was used to apply pressure and encourage players to adapt their positioning and timing as the game progressed.
Challenges and Problem Solving:
One of the main challenges was working with systems originally created for older versions of Unity. This required identifying compatibility issues, modifying logic and resolving broken interactions. Another challenge was improving onboarding, as early versions of the game lacked sufficient guidance for new players. This was addressed through the creation of a tutorial level and clearer UI feedback.
Reflection and Future Improvements:
This project challenged me to work independently across design, implementation and iteration. Revisiting the project after time away allowed me to approach problems more methodically and resolve issues that previously blocked progress.
If continued, I would expand the game by introducing additional enemy types, a scoring system and more varied challenge. I would also implement a weapon and upgrade system, including changes to fire rate, damage and player progression, delivered through an upgrade menu to deepen player choice and replayability.
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