And here it is. Or almost 🙂 . After some months spending part of my very limited spare time learning how to use Unity and working on a game, it is almost finished. Let me introduce Countless.
Countless is a very simple game. The player is presented with a square board full of squares. Each square has a number, and the player must match numbers, in correct order, as quick as possible. The player will fail when not matching the next pair of squares in time. The goal? Match as many pairs as you can.
Despite of its simplicity, developing Countless has been (and is being) very didactic when it comes to using Unity game engine. It involves a lot of animations, data persistence, scene and object management, event handling, UI configuration, ads, and access to some target systems’ features. And a lot of scripting. This is my first experience using a third-party game engine. My previous game, EggOrama, was developed from scratch using my own engine.
For me, Countless serves a dual purpose. On one hand, it is a game that I will publish. It will be free, but include some ads (as well as a little gamification of this). On the other hand, by working on it I have been able to learn a lot about the game engine without having to spend too much time on each feature. After releasing this game, I will be prepared to start another one (but won’t forget updates for Countless as well).
Countless will be released soon, for iOS and Android, featuring both local and online leaderboards. More platforms could eventually join the party. No specific release date yet, though!
==============
Countless, mi nuevo juego
Y aquí está. O casi 🙂 . Tras algunos meses pasando parte de mi muy limitado tiempo libre aprendiendo cómo usar Unity y trabajando en un juego, está casi terminado. Permitidme presentaros Countless.
Countless es un juego muy simple. Ante el jugador se muestra un tablero cuadrado lleno de cuadrados. Cada cuadrado tiene un número, y el jugador debe emparejarlos, en el orden correcto, tan rápido como sea posible. El jugador fallará cuando no empareje el siguiente par de cuadrados a tiempo. ¿El objetivo? Hacer tantas parejas como puedas.
A pesar de su simplicidad, desarrollar Countless ha sido (y está siendo) muy didáctico en lo que a usar el motor Unity se refiere. Involucra un montón de animaciones, persistencia de datos, gestión de escenas y objetos, configuración de UI, publicidad, y acceso a algunas características de los sistemas de destino. Y mucho scripting. Esta es mi primera experiencia usando un motor de juego de terceros. Mi anterior juego, EggOrama, se desarrolló desde cero usando mi propio motor.
Para mí, Countless sirve para un doble propósito. Por un lado, es un juego que voy a publicar. Será gratuito, pero incluirá algo de publicidad (así como un poco de gamificación de esta). Por otro lado, al trabajar en él he podido aprender mucho sobre el motor sin tener que pasar demasiado tiempo en cada característica. Tras publicar este juego, estaré preparado para empezar otro (sin olvidarme de las actualizaciones para Countless).
Countless será publicado pronto, para iOS y Android, e incluirá tablas de clasificación tanto local como online. Puede que más plataformas se unan a la fiesta en el futuro. ¡Pero no tengo una fecha de lanzamiento específica todavía!
I’m seeing more and more indie games from unity… did I make a mistake using gamemaker. I’m trying to build a micromanagment game. Currently working on bulk asset creation.
Hi!
I have not tried GameMaker, but I think it has become quite a professional tool to create games, very versatile and supporting a wide range of platforms. And I have recently seen several indie games in development using GameMaker. So I don’t think it is a mistake; in any case I think one should always be open to use a different engine depending on the project requirements. For example, as far as I know GameMaker has a very limited support for 3D graphics, while Unity has full support. UnityAds has become a very powerful and easy to use tool for monetization as well; I don’t know what possibilities GameMaker has for this. The best thing you can do, is try to keep informed about the features that each game engine provides, its advantages and disadvantages.
For a future project, you may consider using Unity, or UnrealEngine, or stick to GameMaker, depending on what provides the best relationship between development costs and benefit.
Super true. I’d lo d to try your game.