Space Trucker [Under Construction]

Created by: Gwen Boulet, Cooper Rapp, Andy Schiff

You are a space trucker that transports goods between planets, but an asteroid has hit your ship and knocked your cargo loose! Race the cosmic clock and dodge asteroids as you save your shipment from certain destruction.

Inspired by shoot 'em up games like Space Invaders, Space Trucker is a game where you must dodge asteroids and other space detritus as they approach your ship and clog up your cargo net. Maneuver around the obstacles and retrieve all your cargo as fast as you can to get to your destination-- and earn your wages!

Each level, the player chooses a shipment for the day (and each day, an asteroid hits their ship) and must retrieve more than half of each shipment lost in order to be paid. If less than half of the shipment is retrieved, the player does not get paid and fully loses their wage for that day. The player must retrieve all the cargo in a shipment to be paid in full. Some cargo containers hold more valuable goods, and can increase the player's wages if collected over less valuable goods. The player can use their wages to upgrade their spaceship, with boosts such as laser guns, ship armor, or speed bursts. 

Each shipment, the player is evaluated on three criteria. One, speed of delivery. Two, amount of junk in the net at time of delivery. And three, amount of cargo delivered to destination. The amount of money you can make is dependent on your rank, and the three previously stated criteria. 

The core gameplay loop revolves around the saving of each shipment:

1. Get shipment

2. Get hit by asteroid, retrieve cargo and avoid space trash

3. Get to destination as fast as possible

4. Get paid

5. Repeat

Secondary gameplay loops involve upgrading your spaceship:

1. Get paid 

2. Go to parts store, buy upgrade parts, upgrade ship

3. Repeat

And choosing jobs for the day:

1. Look at job board

2. Choose shipment job for the day

3. Deliver shipment

4. Repeat

Progress on Prototype:

I created the UI for the start, play, and end screens, and implemented the navigation between scenes. 

I created the sprites for the asteroids and the truck. 

I created spawners for new asteroids to enter the scene.

I implemented all code into the Unity editor from scripts sent to me by my teammates and helped debug them alongside my teammates.

Reflection on Demo:

I think we represented the core gameplay loop pretty well. There is a start screen, the gameplay which includes junk and cargo and the end point, and the ending screen. It also has the beginnings of a look and feel of the game concept.

It definitely could be more fun, but I think it's on its way to being fun for a demo. It needs better UI and tweaking with code, so that it's less frustrating to play. But the game is also chaotic in a funny way, and it's fulfilling to collect the cargo. But it definitely needs something more, in my opinion.

I want to add better UI/UX design, to make the game more intuitive for players and more visually appealing. There's also a couple of little bugs that I want to fix, like the tilemap moving (what???). 

I want to add cutscenes to the game to get the story aspect rolling, and add more character to the game. I also want to add little side quests (the astronaut cat) to make the game more interesting.