Steam Skies
Genre: Top-down, Aerial Combat Game
Project Role: Gameplay/UI Programmer, Artist
Team size: 5
Platform: PC
Engine: Custom C++
What is it?
“Steam Skies” is a top-down aerial combat game where the player targets and destroys steampunk-style enemies to loot upgrades for their own ship.
Construct your own sky-barge out of scraps of junk found lying around. Outfit your ship with powerful components to destroy other pirates and collect parts from their destroyed ships to add to your ship.
Be careful, though! Your ship parts can be damaged and stop functioning. Make your way through the world toward home.
If you are interested in playing this game, the installer can be found here.
What did I do in this project?
Besides that, as a programmer, I designed and implemented the weapon systems, user interface, and the menu systems.
When the player receives a new weapon, it will replace the current one on the selected slot. The next time the player launches it, the slot fires the corresponding bullets. Additionally, all of the parameters for the weapon are updated according to the weapon’s JSON file.
System design
I designed the system so that there are two component types: the engine and the weapons. The ship is divided into six parts: two on the tail for engines, and two on the left and right respectively for weapons. Each component also has its own tier, with higher tier weapons dealing more damage and higher tier engines allowing the ship to move faster.
The player gets new components from parts dropped by defeated enemies.
What went wrong?
Since this was our first project at DigiPen, we lacked the experience necessary to plan well for this project. In the end, we didn’t have well-designed levels.
What went right?
Playtesters reported that the controls and their feeling were satisfying. Players also enjoyed defeating enemies, collecting loot, and upgrading their ship with the components they found from defeated enemies.