Space Junk is a zero gravity multiplayer FPS I’m making myself in Unity3D — the game I mentioned in this post. I started about a week ago and already have it in pre-alpha — I’ve done the programming for a couple basic weapons and networking so players can already connect and play against each other. Of course all the art is placeholder art for now.

The only other zero gravity FPS I’m aware of is Shattered Horizon, but apart from zero g and nice visuals, that game is pretty basic (the only weapon is a standard assault rifle) — I’m looking forward to really exploring the gameplay possibilities zero g brings to the table.

The individual castle pieces can now break into rubble as a result of a big enough impact. In addition to that, castle pieces are essentially glued together more like a real structure would be — these joints can break under enough pressure as well. So what happens is that large structures can remain intact as they fall or tip over, but they’ll break up with the force of hitting the ground. You can compare this video with the last one I posted to see the difference it makes.

We’ve now begun swapping out the placeholder art so that the castle can start looking more like a castle, rather than a collection of building blocks. Pieces won’t simply crumble into cubes, either — each piece will have more realistic looking fragments.

I’ve just recently started on a solo game project as an outlet for creative game designs that don’t necessarily fit with the type of games I’m making with the ‘Pillage!’ group. I like working on casual games like ‘Pillage!’ but most of the game designs I come up with lend more to the hardcore gaming crowd — this won’t replace any other project. Too early to give many details, but I hope to make this game multiplayer and I’m pretty excited about it.

Raising the bar of my Unity3D GUI programming, I’ve created an interface similar to that of golfing video games for when the player will shoot the ballista in our Pillage game.

1. Use the slider to decide your desired firing angle
2. Click the button to start the bar moving
3. Click the button again to decide the power of your shot
4. Click the button again to decide your accuracy (closer you get to the bar, the closer your firing angle will be to your desired angle)

Each of our three weapons (catapult, trebuchet, ballista) in Pillage will have their own simple mini-game for firing, and they’ll also have their own advantages for taking down the castle.

Visually, the game is still VERY primitive and incomplete — we’re putting our focus the core gameplay so we can have more time for gameplay refinement while we create and polish our art and animation.

My Digital Wind Chime will be at the Dallas Museum of Art for two more weeks — the New Media exhibition uninstalls on January 19th.