I previously detailed my plan for GitHub’s Game Off 2016 and mentioned that I’ll be making a clicker game with a hacking theme. A few days into the competition and I’m making pretty good progress.

At this point I’ve got the camera controls and core UI elements complete, as well as a JSON formatted game configuration file where I’ve defined some of the devices, storage units, and upgrades you’ll be able to collect throughout the game. I’ve also got the bits spawning and moving along a path to the storage unit when you click or hold the main clicker button.

I started off by using a space themed asset pack from Kenney.nl (an incredible asset creator in the game development community), but decided to recreate all the assets myself using only the built-in 3D models provided by Unity, namely spheres, cubes, cylinders, and the like. It’s turned out pretty well in my opinion, especially considering I’m a horrible artist and I’ve never really attempted to create 3D models before. It’s not perfect, but I figure it’s just a game jam after all and the practice is helping.

There’s still plenty left to do, but I’m happy with the progress after only four days, and honestly the majority of what’s left is more my strong suit anyways so I should be well on track for the end of November.

Anyways, here’s a look at some early gameplay footage:

As you can see, holding the main button spawns bits that take one of four paths to the storage unit (a floppy drive is the first unit you start off with) from the desk (there’s a small flip phone on top, the first device you start with). There’s some lighting effects as the nodes along the path light up when a bit goes above it; this is achieved using Raycasts from the nodes. You can also move the camera by dragging your finger (or clicking and dragging your mouse on non-touch devices). There’s also two counters at the top of the screen which are the total number of bits you’ve accumulated, and the number of bits per second that you’re generating.

It’s pretty simple so far, and the UI itself is quite ugly, but it’s a good start and I’m looking forward to building out and polishing the game as the month progresses.