Zombie Killers (Tower Defense Mobile Game)

[darren-wei-chen]

Project Abstract

This document proposes an "tower defense" genre of mobile game marketed towards casual gamers who want an easy-to-pick-up and addicting game to play in short bursts during their free time. The product design will focus on simple gameplay mechanics that allow the user to easily and intuitively pick up the game and play for short periods of time, not unlike similar products such as Plants vs Zombies.

High Level Requirement

The end product should be a simple mobile game that can be easily picked up by users of all ages, with the easy-to-learn and addictive gameplay that is characteristic of the tower defense genre of mobile games. The end product should be monetizable, with gameplay that keeps users coming back and watching ads or spending money on in-app purchases (IAPs) to help them get that next best high score.

Conceptual Design

The product is designed to be a mobile app and should be made available on both iOS and Android. This game will be built in the Unity game engine and C#.

Background

Our project is a new addition to the tower defense genre, similar to other mobile games such as Plants vs Zombies or Bloons TD. It should feature simple tap or swipe controls, a short gameplay loop, and the level design and scoring system characteristic of this genre of mobile games.

Required Resources

Hardware:

• Computer (Windows or Mac)
• iPhone (for iOS testing)
• Android phone (for Android testing)

Software:

• Unity Personal or Unity Student
• C#
• Visual Studio (comes with Unity download)

Team Members This project would benefit from team members who are interested in designing a simple mobile game, and is a good first hands-on experience with the Unity game engine as well as C# for those who have never touched game development before. Team members who are familiar with C/Java/OOP in general should have a smooth transition to C#, and Unity is very user/developer-friendly with the help of the Unity Inspector. Interest or past experience in mobile app development, as well as interest in the tower defense mobile game in general is a plus. The project would also benefit from team members with skills in art/sound design to generate assets for the game (although this is not strictly necessary!).

[FranceskoRacaku]

I find this an interesting project because I like developing games even though I prefer Java more I would be more than happy to work on C and Unity for the experience.

I have worked in Java and have a few experience in mobile app development so I could help with that.

[tuj39467]

I remember playing Subway Surfers and Temple Run non-stop as a kid and how they instantly remained popular over time. I can definitely see potential in this game because there is something about the kind of satisfaction earned when someone finally beats their previous score in an endless running game that keeps it within popular interest.

I never developed any games, but it’s nice to know that with my prior C and Java experience, transitioning to C# would not be too difficult. I am willing to put in the work to learn how game development works because that is something that I have always wanted to do at some point as a programmer. I can contribute to the game in an artistic/creative sense as well as adding more of a story to it to give the user more motivation to continue playing.

[KarlSchaller]

I think SewerDash is maybe the most creative and inspired proposal I've read here - I really like the lighthearted parody idea behind it. I also just really like mobile games that are procedurally generated and are easy to pick up and easy to put down whenever you happen to have the downtime in the middle of your day to play them.

I'm very comfortable with C# and have some experience in Unity, so it shouldn't be too hard for me to round out my knowledge in whatever direction is needed for this project. I think if we wanted to expand on this idea we could have have two different game modes, one as the normal endless mode with a leaderboard, but we could also add a mode that has some type of progression. This game mode would take the "endless" out of "endless runner", but it might be interesting to try a sort of campaign mode where the rats can actually reach a sewer exit and make their delivery, earning some cash/rewards/upgrades that persist when they play that mode again in the future.

[gannontraynor]

I have always thought about the idea of building a game of this style, but have never pulled the trigger. This seems like the perfect opportunity. To this day I still have subway surfers installed on my phone for when I am bored and have a few minutes to kill.

While I haven't built a game before, I do have experience with mobile development. I would need to brush up on my C# skills however, it has been a while since I have written a program with it. What are the plans for assets because to put bluntly I am NOT artistically talented whatsoever? Depending on the time frame it would be cool to implement some kind of database to track scores.

[Wyllice]

I have always enjoyed these sorts of video games and would very much enjoy building a game like this from scratch. Darren’s presentation was very well done, and the clarity of his vision for the project makes it an appealing project to work on.

I don’t have any experience with Unity or C# unfortunately, but I have used Visual Studio and have enough experience with C and C++ that I am confident I can learn enough C# quickly to be a good contributor to this project. I would be especially interested in working on some of the sewer maps. As a suggestion for the project, I think it would be funny if Master Splinter from TMNT was the owner of the rat delivery service, or really any sort of TMNT reference in the sewers.