Game Overview
Glob the Blob is a 3D Platformer developed using Unity by a three-member team during a production schedule of three months. Players control a gelatinous blob that has crashed his ship in a futuristic alien city and must traverse through a dangerous environment that seeks to destroy them to get back to their ship.
My Responsibilities
- Programmer: In charge of scripting the mechanics of the character and enemies. Also responsible for scripting the environment of the world that the player can interact with.
- Mechanics Designer: Designed fun and interesting mechanics for the main character that could be used to create interesting levels and a readable gameplay experience.
Glob the Blob Character Mechanics
Movement
The movement takes into account the gelatinous nature of the blob and makes the player feel like they are sliding over surfaces to add to the authenticity of the character. Designing a good movement system was probably one of the most challenging aspects during the production of the game. In the end, the movement feels smooth but also makes the players feel like they are actually playing as a blob and not a human in blob's clothing.
Jump/Hold Jump
With any good platformer comes a good jump system. The jump that was designed for the blob incorporates a single tap for the minimum jump height and if the button is held longer the blob jumps higher until the maximum jump height is reached. The jump also takes into account the gelatinous nature of the blob and this is felt by the player while jumping.
Glide
Building on the jump, a glide system was designed where the player can activate the glide anytime during a jump. However, this does not affect the jump as a glide is an extension of it and the blob continues to slowly glide up until the maximum height is reached and then falls down. The glide has a maximum time that it can be used and the player cannot use it more than once before hitting the ground. When the blob is in a fan air stream and uses glide, the glide lasts for an unlimited duration of time and blob glides to the top of the air stream.
Shoot and Auto Lock
The auto lock system is based on vector math which takes into account the direction the camera is looking at. If a target is within that direction, the crosshair will appear on the target. The lock also takes into account the distance between the character and the target and will appear on the target that is closest to the character. If a target is locked, the shooting will go straight at that target. If a target is not locked, the shooting will go in the direction that the camera is facing.