Temporal Horizon
Made In: Unity; C#
Date: Fall 2014, Montreal
Temporal Horizon is a first person spaceship flight game taking place in the middle of an asteroid field. The intent of this game was to make a fast-paced, acradesque game where players could fly several spaceships while destroying asteroids to access the resources inside.
Core Design
Temporal Horizon is intended to provide the thrill of both flying in a spaceship and blowing things up. This is achieved by providing the players three different ships to fly as they destroy Asteroids and collect the resources from this destruction. Each ship gives a different method to achieve this and provides a unique experience from the others.
The flight controls in game are designed more for gameplay and less for realistic difficulty. While other games would have more quirks attached to their movement systems to create a more realistic challenge, the movement in this game is intended to be simple and responsive. With this kind of movement the game feels more arcade like.
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The Environment
The level Temporal Horizon takes place in is the orbit of a large planet positioned in the middle of what would be one of its rings. This environment provides an open space for players to navigate in while they both destroy asteroids for the resources inside while also attempting to not get hit by any. In order to keep the player from flying into deep space, the station has
The Asteroids come in four different styles, small, medium, large, and as small 'comets'. The medium and large Asteroids break into a cluster of small Asteroids when destroyed while also providing some resources. Comets provide more resources when destroyed but are also small, fast moving targets and can prove to be difficult to pin down.
The Ships
The Sparrow (Blue):
The Sparrow is the fast ship of the three. The intent of this ship was to provide a more flight driven gameplay experience. The homing rockets allow the player to focus more on flight and less on aiming, and with a speed boost and close range cutting laser the ship can also destroy Asteroids at close range.
The Racer (Green):
The Racer is the high-aim ship of the three. It has a basic cannon which requires the most time to aim but also provides heavy impact power. It also has a scatter shot that allows it to hit smaller targets or destroy close range targets with ease. The ship's special trait is the two wing-men that flank it on either side. They will follow the player, aim where the player is aiming, and will mimic whichever fire mode the player uses.
The Minotaur (Red):
The Minotaur is the slowest ship of the three. Because of this the ships capibilities when close to Asteroids is highest, with both the fastest firing cannon in the game as well as the ability to ram into Asteroids to destroy them. These give the ship the highest capibility to destroy what is near it. In order for the ship to cover distant areas it is also armed with a mine deploying system. These mines can cover areas of the map the ship had been in but don't require the player to continuously fly around the entire level, destroying each Asteroid individually.
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End Result
The final version of Temporal Horizon achieves the main goals initially set out for. The endless wave of Asteroids provides players a supply of objects to destroy, the centralized station that is a physical asset in the level as well as the controls promote an arcade-like feel to the game, and the different ships give players many different potential ways to experience the game. With all of these combined the gameplay ramins simple, fast-paced, and engaging throughout.