Overview
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Sun Sparrow Six is a first-person action game where the player is tasked with repairing the failing systems on a small fighter vessel in the middle of an intergalactic attack.
The game puts a focus on constantly moving around the ship in order to repair it, which is why the layout was important to get right. The goal was to create a compact and interconnected space, while mitigating player confusion. |
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Development Role
Sun Sparrow Six was created over the course of 2 months as a solo development project. As the only developer, I was responsible for creating all aspects of the project.
As the developer of Sun Sparrow Six, I accomplished the following:
As the developer of Sun Sparrow Six, I accomplished the following:
- Created all base gameplay systems & behaviors in Unity, writing flexible & re-usable components to quickly prototype the game
- Created initial Whitebox for the level layout, with a focus on creating an easily understandable & interconnected space that was interesting to navigate
- Developed an engaging and cohesive tutorial with the intention of introducing & familiarizing players with the ship before adding hazardous or stressful elements to the gameplay
- Prototyped placeholder 3D assets for the level, which defined a theme and purpose for the different areas
- Playtested & iterated upon layout and gameplay mechanics over the rapid 2-month development cycle
Ship Layout
The ship was designed with the goal of creating a compact and interconnected space, allowing for multiple ways to reach a single area. It's divided into 3 layers - Floor 0, which acts as a hallway across the entire length of the ship, Floor 1, where most of the rooms and tasks are located, and Floor 2, an upper area with a small amount of tasks that can give emergency access to several rooms in Floor 1.
The ship also has doorways and elevators. Doorways can close during the course of game, requiring the player to fix them. The same goes for elevators, which offer fast travel between floors, but can similarly shut down and require player intervention. Elevators can be fixed at their bottom floor, and doors can only be fixed from one side of the doorway. The goal with the doorways and elevators was to throw a wrench into the player's established routes through the ship - requiring them to find alternate pathways, or spend time to repair them and open up the ship's layout again.
The ship is also given recognizable landmarks to help players navigate - for example, the observation room contains a giant blue hologram, and the Floor 1 Hallway contains giant floor-to-ceiling windows. In addition to this, each area of the ship is color coded.
The ship also has doorways and elevators. Doorways can close during the course of game, requiring the player to fix them. The same goes for elevators, which offer fast travel between floors, but can similarly shut down and require player intervention. Elevators can be fixed at their bottom floor, and doors can only be fixed from one side of the doorway. The goal with the doorways and elevators was to throw a wrench into the player's established routes through the ship - requiring them to find alternate pathways, or spend time to repair them and open up the ship's layout again.
The ship is also given recognizable landmarks to help players navigate - for example, the observation room contains a giant blue hologram, and the Floor 1 Hallway contains giant floor-to-ceiling windows. In addition to this, each area of the ship is color coded.
Tutorial Gameplay
Since the core gameplay loop of Sun Sparrow Six includes quickly moving around the space to fix broken objects, it was important to not only communicate the important aspects of gameplay to the player, but to also give them a safe space to familiarize themselves with the layout of the ship.