Alerian Defenders - Project Pitch
About
Alerian Defenders is a chaotic multiplayer party game where Players take on the role of a crew member aboard the Concordia, a ship headed for the Aleria system. Upon the ship's final approach, a number of systems fail, and the crew must work together to repair the ship before it crashes into the planet. Players will take on different roles aboard the ship, each with their own responsibilities; the problem being that only some Players will be able to see Repair Functions required to repair certain subsystems, while others will have to rely on the information provided by their crewmates.
The game is designed to be played in person with a group of friends, or over the web with a similar experience to the Jackbox set of party games. Players will be able to join a lobby hosted on a host device, and play together on their mobile devices.
Project Aims
The aim of this project is to create a polished portfolio piece showcasing skills that I am currently lacking. In order to achieve this, I will be creating a multiplayer mobile game within Unity, utilising Unity's 'Netcode for GameObjects' tools to create a polished experience.
- Produce a polished mobile game in Unity.
- Utilise Unity's 'Netcode for GameObjects' tools to produce a multiplayer game.
- Add a Published Game to Portfolio
- At minimum, itch.io
- Ideally, Google Play or App Store
Industry Positioning
Alerian Defenders aims to fill a gap in my current skillset to better position myself for future roles in the industry. Currently, I have strong background in Unity development, primarily focused on single player experiences. Within these projects, I have developed a strong understanding of Player input management, games systems (including Objective and Dialogue systems), and game design principles. What I am missing is a strong understanding of multiplayer networking systems, and how to design a multiplayer game experience which is driven mostly by the Player/s rather than the gameplay alone.
I have chosen to pursue a multiplayer aspect as industry roles are showing a trend for Developers with experience in multiplayer networking systems, including Unity's networking options among others. Creating a multiplayer game will better position myself for these roles, while also showcasing a polished portfolio piece which expands on my current skillset.
Alongside the industry trend for multiplayer engineers, several gaming communities have shown an increased interest in social multiplayer games, focused on small groups (usually 4) working towards a common goal. This genre of social games includes Peak (Landfall Games, Aggro Crab), Lethal Company (Zeekerss) and R.E.P.O. (Semiwork), alongside browser-based games such as Gartic Phone and games included as part of the Jackbox Party Pack (Jackbox Games, Inc.) game series have also shown consistent popularity among communities. Each of these games have simple gameplay loops, but their popularity and replayability are driven by the chaotic and unpredictable nature of the games themselves, along with the interactions of Players surrounding them.
Example Job Posting from MarineVerse, showing a desire for Unity Multiplayer experience
Example Job Posting from dentsu, showing a desire for Unity Multiplayer experience
Project Scope
As a project with a limited time constraint, my primary focus is the overall polish of the and multiplayer components of the game. While I am interested in the use of another engine such as Unreal Engine 5 (UE5) or Godot, which also include networking solutions, the time required to learn both a new engine and implement networking may quickly lead to scope creep. As my primary aim is to work within Unity while in industry, I can use this as an opportunity to learn more up-to-date elements of the engine, primarily the newer Unity 6 release. This still allows me to expand my skills, learning new engine tools alongside the implementation of multiplayer, while utilising my current familiarity with Unity. Another consideration I have made is the art aspects of the game. As I have limited modelling and 2D art skills the game will be primarily UI based, utilising Unity’s UI systems. This also lends itself to a mobile/party game, as devices are not required to render complex scenes, meaning devices of most ages can be used to play.
Gameplay Overview
Players will begin the game with one Player hosting a lobby, either on a mobile device or a host device which Players can view together which provides a current overview of the ship. After joining, Players can set a nickname and wait for the host for begin the game. Players will be served an introductory breakdown of the game, including how to interact with elements of the game to repair subsystems. This tutorial breakdown can be skipped at any time for experienced Players.
After viewing (or skipping) the introduction section, Players are given their ship roles and shown a current overview of the ship. The main purpose of these roles is to define what subsystem each Player should be focusing on and gives the current repair instructions. A Medic may focus primarily on medical and life support systems and is given the repair instructions for their assigned subsystems.
Each Player will be randomly assigned a primary role aboard the ship. The goal of the Player is to repair their assigned subsystem, which include communications, navigation and power. Repair functions will be randomly assigned to Players, meaning that Players will have to communicate with each other to complete the repairs.
Players will begin to be served a series of Repair Functions (middle of screen, Player Role screen, pictured right). Restarts temporarily disable certain systems but will keep them restored for longer once back online; restarts may also be necessary as steps in the repair process for certain subsystems. Patches are temporary fixes which extend the time needed before a system fails and allow Players of the associated Role to perform certain fixes. Slices remove certain restrictions from components and allow access to repairs which were previously inaccessible to Players. Part of the chaos for Alerian Defenders arises from the randomisation of the Repair Functions. As the game progresses Players will more often be served functions which are time sensitive or those which require restrictions to be removed by the slicing actions. Players will need to communicate with each other among the chaos to correctly repair subsystems which may require multiple inputs at the same time or require a series of inputs that are split among multiple devices.
Game Home Screen (left) and Lobby Joining Screen (right)
Example of a Player Role screen, showing assigned subsystems and repair instructions