Drowning Simulator by Mikeliosus
Introduction
After years, I finally tried to make a game on Unity by myself. It is a tough challenge, but I finally got to the point where I am ready to dive in (lol).
Unfortunately, the process of development was not moving as well as I wanted it to be. My health recently has not been allowing me to invest a lot of time in a row as I used to do on previous jams. At the end of the time constraint of 48 hours, I was able to work around 12 hours, and as it was a learning process at the same, the result was like meh. The link on the Unity project on that stage is available, of course.
I want to tell the story of my learning process in a post, and I will add a link to it here soon.
I was disappointed by my state and the result, but I felt inspired and believed that I could definitely do more. So I decided to make a broader version, which will be done in 20 hours of work, which is a bare minimum that I was able to invest in the 48 hours of jam before. The link to this version is also finally available.
It is still far less than I wanted to do. Actually, it is more code than a game. :D But you can imagine the possibilities! :D
Despite the jam has ended, I still feel very optimistic, and I want to continue updating the project. Will see what it will get to!
:exclamation: The game code was written with a ChatPGT helping me HEAVILY. I am still not sure how fair it is.
Game
It is supposed to be an underwater hunt, but today, it is more like a clearly developed drowning with almost no actual hunt. :D
Controls:
W,A,S,D - Movement
Aim camera with mouse
Space - Jump
E - Interact
| (Made under 12 working hours during COMPO) | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZUkD3Anqqi0m1HyvO1hE1bz6C_brvp6G/view?usp=sharing |
| (Made under 20 working hours, but uploaded later) | https://drive.google.com/file/d/13f-PoAeG1ursmf6fwceznqUI7PMUnAxp/view?usp=sharing |
| (Made under 20 working hours, but uploaded later) | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r4ErB_PkLP9bNdrNg6lWgCcVV0Q9NRIV/view?usp=sharing |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/drowning-simulator |
Ratings
| Overall | 286th | 2.707⭐ | 31🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 282th | 2.571⭐ | 30🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 259th | 2.696⭐ | 30🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 237th | 3.069⭐ | 31🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 168th | 2.589⭐ | 30🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 278th | 2.518⭐ | 30🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 34🗳️ | 53🗨️ |
It will definitely be updated more.
For now, I can show something that represents the idea, at least in some way.
This is obviously a very basic version of your idea, but I can see the vision you had and I think this could be a really cool game loop. With an area to explore, more upgrades to buy, and an ending of sorts, this would work really well as a game. Really strong vision, and I hope you're able to keep improving your skills so that one day you can build something to match that vision! Good work overall, I'd be proud of this one.
Immediately reminded me of diving for rings/weights in the pool as a kid. I can definitely see the vision with a few more upgrade mechanics and some difficulty progression.
(I am on Linux)
Funnily enough the first thing that I did is fall out of the map (didn't see the swimming pool at first!)
I remember when I was a kid that in the last day of the swimming lessons, the teacher would collect a ton of coins and drop them into the swimming pool and we would have to dive to take them. It felt more or less the same haha.
If some other character would have been collecting coins I would be even more greedy and die more often.
Obviously there are some things to improve, but overall the idea is nice.
Also the icon when you loose it is cute, "breathe sometimes next time" it is a nice reminder xD
Keep it up buddy!
For some reason at the end my laptop started heating up too much. I'd recommend you check with the Unity profiler to see where and why this happens.
Don't trust ChatGPT! It might write the code, which looks good, but it's not...
My main feedback here is:
- Making sure the player can't go out of bounds by falling out of the map. Otherwise they need to restart the game (just teleporting them to the beginning should fix this).
- Decreasing the speed of the camera when moving your mouse, it was waay to fast.
- You could have made the pool surface also blue like it's bottom, instead of looking like everything else
- For the exit screen, I think it's better to have the exit option at the bottom and return at the top, as is in other games and therefore usually the player's expectation.
@chuckiee Thank you for the kind words! I actually planned something like this, but was not able to complete it in a reasonable time. But I believe I will make more next time!
@jk5000 Ha :D Thank you!
@floppynub Thanks a lot for all your kind words! I will try to do my best on further jams!
@daniel Thank you! To be honest, I did not know that people learning to swim like this, interesting
@lucasito Sorry, I did not plan to make a Linux build :(
:exclamation: If anybody is interested in how the process of the development was - [I made a post describing it](https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/drowning-simulator/creation-of-my-first-unity-solo-entry).
@muriel Thank you! Nice story and a clever way to teach somebody swimming! :3
@zigtalk Sure, I told quite in details how I used the chat in a [post describing the process](https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/drowning-simulator/creation-of-my-first-unity-solo-entry), but if you will need any more detail, feel free to ask!
@regmont I will try to consider camera speed later. Tbh, I am constantly forgetting that I got used to "under drugs" DPI years ago :D
And believe me, GPT under my supervision writes FAR better code than I :D
Project sources are available, so you can freely check if it's alright!
@jon-curtin Thank you!
:exclamation: If anybody is interested in how the process of the development was - [I made a post describing it](https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/drowning-simulator/creation-of-my-first-unity-solo-entry).
@papu-kweh Thank you! Yep, making walls to prevent falling was an easy task, but I completely forgot about it as I had not reached a level design stage at all. But it is a quick tweak, I should have done it.
Regarding the mouse speed, I will consider it in the future. As I mentioned in another comment, I always used such mouse settings and just constantly forget that it may be a problem for others.
@ellaris Thank you! Oh, regarding the pool, I even tried to make normal water :D My goal was not to use anybody else's material for water, so I abandoned the task as too time-consuming.
By the way, the bottom of the pool is blue just because of lightning. Nothing was done to get this result. :D
Regarding the button places - yeep, watched no references and my mind tricked me a little.
@tsaot Thank you! Please remember this well :D
@dandee Thank you! I believe all the credits go to UModeeler basic material and HDRP natural lightning :D
:exclamation: If anybody is interested in how the process of the development was - [I made a post describing it](https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/drowning-simulator/creation-of-my-first-unity-solo-entry).