https://superdoberdev.itch.io/winter-survival-story
Hello everyone! Thanks for checking out this page, it means a lot for me.
First of all i will try to keep it short and tell you the story behind this game, also few things about me.
Few years ago, i remember playing Call of Duty and for the first time, they introduced zombies.I am sure some of you will remember also, after finishing the game you will unlock this new game mode.Zombies will spawn on waves and you will have to last as much as possible, to beat your previous high score. Practically there was something else to do after finishing the story mode, a reason to come back.I become in love with that ideea, that kind of gameplay and i remember spending many nights playing without getting bored.I was in the high school at that time, the last year and i had to use my time for getting prepared for the exams also..so, the time i had for playing video games became less while the exams approached.The wave shooter still, remained in my mind.
From time to time, before sleep, i used to watch some COD gameplay on youtube and that's how i came across an FpsKit at one point..it was made by the Tornado twins if i remember well and it supposed to be an easy way for everyone to make a shooter.Had some already made assets and you were just drag and dropping them around, dreaming to get something playable in the end.I got more into that, watching tutorials and trying to make a game.The next Call of Duty Zombies will be made by me, i started to dream.The more i got into it, the more i discovered that the kit was not enough, you needed more assets and knowledge.You could, of course, buy the pro version, with more assets but there was still more to accomplish for having a game.I remember that the biggest issue was the frame rate.
I started to dig up more about game engines, i downloaded almost all of them available for free at that time and took a look at how can i use one to make my dream game.I always got into the same problems, not enough assets already provided and no knowledge about coding, or 3d modeling, just to be able to achieve something i could think about.I felt totally disappointed, but i continued searching for a more beginner friendly engine.I discovered 3ds max and got in love with, started to watch some tutorials about coding also..
It was that time when i discovered Unity and playmaker.
I still remember like it was yesterday, being able to move around the default character that came with unity and picking up coins using touch, after watching some youtube tutorials of course..i felt very good and started dreaming again that maybe one day i could use Unity and make my own game.
A very beautiful world opened for me than, a very complex one and not so easy to understand but yet.. i was amazed and very curios, somehow hungry for learning more about.
From one tutorial to another, from one story to the other, i was watching and trying to recreate what people were showing.
I bought some assets, it was around Christmas and took a santa model from the asset store, some reindeers, looked for a sleigh and snowmen, few trees and some cartoony looking houses.
Help Santa, was the name given to my project.The Santa was rigged, animated and ready, i also attached a third person camera and started to work.I had 15 levels, each one having in between 4-9 villages. You will have to go thru each village and leave a gift at every doorstep.I always loved nice looking terrains, so i managed to make one for every level.The ideea was simple, i will have the terrain risen at a specific hight, than i will carve the place were the village will be and in the end make some beautiful mountains or hills that will hide them.I was having trouble with the frame rate, because i did what i believe everyone tends to do in the beginning, had too many prefabs placed.I made all the prefabs childs of their respective village and had all of them deactivated by default.Added some trigers that will make them visible again only when you were about to cross the mountain and head to a specific one.
For the gameplay to be more interesting i also used two kind of snowmen. Some were static, just for visuals and some that had some simple animations and a very basic ai behavior, that made them following the player and do some damage, when Santa was hitting an invisible trigger around them.The difference between the static ones and the ai was that they had red eyes.It was an element of surprise if you were not paying attention to each snowman before they will get alive and start chasing you.I added some nice particle effects to all the events i considerent important enough like hit/death/pickup/win/lose and so on..
For everything i used Playmaker.The game was nice and i was pleased enough with how the core mechanics turned out, every closed person that was intrested got a copy and in exchange i got back some nice feedback about what i could improve on. The only problem, it was still a work i progress.
Of course, the Christmas came and my game was not ready ..Passed and still nothing.I planned to continue working when i will have time and improving on i, with the hope that i will be able to finish it for the next year.
In parallel, the high school ended and it was the time for me to move around and find some work, as i couldn't afford going to college or something else.
Living in a poorer country, i followed the other's example and decided to go for work in a more developed one.
I went to Spain that year, it was the summertime and i had someone who helped me with a job on a nice island.
I had no internet there, and very little time for me as at one moment i was working 3 jobs.I used to guard a restaurant during the night, a house during the day and sometimes go with a friend who worked in constructions. The ideea, no way to play with Unity and develop my little game further.
Some crazy years passed like in no time and many changes occured in my life.I used to move from one place to another for work.During the summertime i will go to Spain and in the cold seasons somewere else.
I was still watching tutorials and following some people's progress when i had time.
4 years ago, the most beautiful moment of my life happened. My son, Gabriel was born.
I started to spend more time at home with him, with my family.I realized that some things are more important than others, i got less interested in materialism.
I had some time for me, somehow..time do do what i like.
My old laptop still had unity installed and the Help Santa projec on it.I tried to develop further, learned some c# and managed to convert my game from using playmaker to using my own c# scripts.
I was very happy at that time, not much for someone else maybe but for me it was an accomplishment.
At one point windows started to crash very often and as a precaution i saved all my progress to an external hard drive.
Another crazy time in my life passed, more changes and somehow made me forget about unity and games for a period.
This year, like..a month before Christmas, i had some free time and decided to get my external hard drive, install unity and keep working on Help Santa.
What a surprise, the hard drive was corrupted and my little game, the game i put so much soul and dedication into it was gone.😔 Totally disappointed again.
It took like a week i believe to get more courage and think about another game.I still had the assets bought years ago, the knowledge if i could say so and the passion.
I was just missing the idea of the game.That's when i got hit!
I will use the Santa and what triggered my love for making video games.. wave shooter or..COD Zombies.
Why not .making my own wave shooter? And why not using winter as a theme? This way, my character can come back to life and exists. Even if not in Help Santa, the old game, in the new one but..it will exists, it won't be just a static asset.
It may not be the most beautiful game out there, i may not be the most skilled..the truth is that i am very far, still at the beginning, learning.Winter survival story is simple, but it was made by me and even if was not ready for release on Christmas, it's something that i still managed finishing.
Now, for the ideea of the game ..as i said, simple.Enemies will be spawned in waves, you have to survive as long as possible and make enough money to unlock new weapons or features, beat your own score(i am also planing to add leaderboards if i will see that anyone will be interested into that).
I wanted to make a game that will never end, that every time you play can be different if i can say so, as enemies are randomly spawned, also .. most of all, a game that i will also enjoy playing.
If you reached this point, thank you very much for coming by and having enough patience to read my little story!
On the link above you can find a short gameplay and some screenshots, if you are pleased enough please consider supporting me by buying the game.If you have any recommendations or ideas, i am fully opened and wait for your messages.
zapodeanu4@gmail.com