BULLETS (early access)

A FPS with physics based movement and bullet effects.

Developer's Note
This game is technically one of many failed attempts at creating a workable prototype of a first person shooter game.
This is just a stepping stone where I took many lessons learned.
Here are a few lessons that I have learned:

• Always think about release and deployment.
  • Neglecting about deployment onto a platform (like Itch.io) led to me losing my focus on what I was doing (releasing something for someone to play).
  • It caused me to ask not feel motivated to create or fix anything when the endpoint is so far away.
  • Deploying first (and fixing later), helped break down my effort into updates, rather than a long string of updates and features with no end in sight.
• Dry on assets == Stall in momentum
  • This is something that I'm still struggling to deal with. I found that I have heavily neglected in collecting assets that I'm able to use.
  • Scouring for assets lost previous momentum in development.
  • Next time, I should try to get around 50% of the assets I would need rather than starting something, and to also take a few lessons on Unity to be able to create some adhoc placeholders.
• Microscopic scope suites me better
  • I originally have planned this game to be a singleplayer game with a basic story and plot.
  • At my level (published one micro-game), I couldn't muster it within a year (part-time), and I would need to improve proficiency in productivity  and project management to get to that level.
  • Next time, I should create something even smaller in scope (micro games) to build confidence and proficiency in solo-development.

• Design the "back button" first
  • This is something difficult to describe.
  • In this project, I designed the game first, but the main menu, pause menu, etc. last. It stalled me on releasing my game, and killed momentum.
  • I should create a surrounding wrapper early so that I can have the option to release the game fast without worrying about whether or not the player would be need to ALT+F4 because I didn't create a pause menu and a quit button.
• Do everything by myself
  • This is something that isn't necessarily a bad thing, but for the purposes of building something and releasing it in a timely manner, it is.
  • I should have tried looking at FPS shooter assets and paid models to make something playable at a quick rate. I estimate that a paid FPS controller on Unity Store would have saved 4-5 months of development time.
  • I think this is something that I will always struggle on, because there is always something to learn, and the best way to learn is to do.

Why did I make this game?
Primarily, I love first person shooters. Secondarily, I want to see if I can emulate the physics based movement and shooting that "Totally Accurate Battlegrounds" has, where everything (body, guns, explosions) is linked to physics. It creates a very unique experience where the focus of the game is not all about DPS, TTK, and Spray Patterns (Snipers and other rifles can be countered by lower DPS options by simply having a higher DPS and less recoil by using those advantages to consistently hit the opponent and the physics of each impact cause their firearms to swing erratically and miss its target).

Credits
Game Design by Henry Lam
Level Design by Henry Lam
Programming by Henry Lam
Sound Effects

• "Bullet Impact" by Henry Lam
• "200 Free SFX" by Davit Masia
  

Models

• M1911 and M16 from "Free Low Poly Weapons Pack" by Delthor Games

Textures and Materials

• "Gridbox Prototype Materials" by Ciathyza