Overview / Usage

Inspiration (also: who is hangry owl games)

I've been playing games all my life, starting with LCD games in the 80s. When I got my first (second hand) computer around the age of 12, a 286 with 12MHz, I learned DOS and programming basics on it. There wasn't much else to do. A bit later I got a 386 with 20MHz and 4MB of RAM.

1997, at 15 years of age, an apprenticeship (the common thing to do in Switzerland after secondary school) as "Informatiker" (IT Specialist) kicked off a career in IT that has lasted a quarter of a century. Software Developer, System Engineer, Oracle and SQL Server DBA, Team Lead - I've dabbled in everything. The entire time I worked at the same company, a small but brilliant ERP software company in eastern Switzerland. It was also during the apprenticeship that I bought my first new PC myself, a Pentium 2 400MHz.

Even though I've been a gamer all these years, it was only as recent as in 2020 that I decided to give game development a go. I did a small just for fun project that I released on the google playstore (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.WildcardConceptsLtd.PAAARGH).

Shortly afterwards the decision was made to take one year off from work to create my own game. It is what got me into IT in the first place. I gave my bosses a year to prepare know how transfers and started training myself up. Development on GROSS began in spring 2021, where I worked two days a week on it. Since July 2021 it is my full time (and then some) job.

I have since extended the project to 18 months. It's a software project, we all knew it wouldn't be done in time.

Why this kind of game?

GROSS is a Tower Defense / First Person hybrid. There are many reasons I chose this as my first (of many, I hope) commercial projects.

First and foremost, it is what I want to play and feel doesn't exist. There are the Sanctum games, and a few similar games (Orcs Must Die, Hypercharge), but nothing that allows you the freedom of Tower Defense combined with a first person experience. I love games where you defend an objective, I like to hold the line. I love to play a tank or a healer, I love to be the shield, not the spear.

Second, scope. One year of game development with one person is not a lot. I would have loved to create a game that takes the freedom of construction of 7 days to die, combine it with the parcour movement of Warframe, and the first person part of COD:MW2019, and sprinkle some multiplayer on top. But that's a bit too much. A Tower Defense game has small, arena-like levels, a grid structure to build on, and a limited inventory of turrets and traps that all serve a unique function. It seemed manageable.

How was it received so far?

The demo has gone public a couple weeks ago after being tested by a small circle of testers which is the first time I received external feedback. Shortly after, it went up on Gameround where it has received very positive feedback (https://gameround.co/detail/262/review/reviews) sprinkled with a lot of helpful suggestions and pointers to areas of the game that are less than perfect. It also gave me a chance of to watch people play the game, which has resulted in a few changes that make it easier for players to understand the games concepts.

What's the goal?

My goal is to create a fun game that players enjoy, with old school vibes and dark humor. The final price of the game is not decided yet, the retail price on Steam will be somewhere between 10€ and 20€, with frequent discounts.

Methodology / Approach

How did this develop?

About 6 months before development started I began brainstorming and writing down ideas. One thing that bugged me with the (few) similar games was that the player had one singular purpose (shoot whatever is closest to the base in the face) with very few tools (only a few weapons, almost no abilities/equipment).

Out of the brainstorming, the resource/cash mechanics arose. The goal is to give the player the secondary goal of picking up cash, and - once the players pockets are full - transfer it to his bank account in order to be able to secure cash. Cash is the driving force behind the game, both in terms of the story (which is mostly fleshed out now but won't be revealed before the release) and gameplay. Picking up cash gives massive score boosts, and the more cash the player secures, the better defenses can be built for the following waves.

The cash mechanics keep the players on their toes. They give them something else to shoot at (cash can be picked up from the ground and delivered to the bank with special bullets and grenades), and make sure the player has to move. Since cash pickups are also damaged by explosive damage, the player has to be careful using area weapons.

The first stage of game development was prototyping where these mechanics were tested. This was followed by development of different guns, ammunition types, turrets, traps and equipment (abilities).

One proper level was designed (DEAD END), and sound was added.

I wanted to avoid having a boring main menu, so I came up with the idea of having a main menu level. This menu/sandbox level (HOME) allows players to pick their loadouts and try them out on harmless (fenced off) zombies, mannequins, paper targets and tin cans. It's from HOME that the player can start a new game as well.

In preparation for filming the trailer, I designed two more levels, bringing the current count up to four (of which two can be played in the Demo). I'm currently working on the story mode "from the outside in". I'm starting with the levels that are most significant for the story - the first and the last ones - and work my way in. Followed by the middle levels that provide the backdrop for the bigger twists in the story. This allows me at any stage to pull the plug and release the game with a number of levels while still maintaining the story line, should it turn out that I'm running low on time.

As I'm a single developer, all 3D models, animations and sound effects are store bought. The 3D models are from Synty, animations and sound effects from various sources. While almost every Indie developer knows Synty, players (apart from the most hardcore Indie fans) do not seem to recognize them. The decision to go with "mainstream" Synty assets seems to have been the right one - I have thousands of assets from dozens of different asset packs at my disposal, with a consistent style and of an unparalleled level of quality.

Technologies Used

Unity 2020.3, Standard Render Pipeline

FMOD Adaptive Audio

Software: Davinci Resolve, Resonic Player, Total Commander, Photoshop, Irfanview, Atlassian Sourcetree, Bonobo Git Server

Development Machine: AMD Ryzen 3900X, GTX 2080S, 2TB Intel SSD

Test machine 1: i7 9750H, GTX 1660Ti

Test machine 2: i7 6700K, GTX 1070

Other links

• Press Kit