My Little Experiment with ‘Shooter Miami’
So, I kept seeing things about ‘Shooter Miami’ floating around. Not really sure what the big deal was, maybe some game or a style people were talking about. Anyway, it got me thinking. You know, that neon-drenched, retro vibe. Looked kinda cool. I figured, why not try and build a tiny piece of something like that myself? Just mess around on my computer, see what happens.
Getting the Basics Down
Fired up my usual game engine tool. First things first, needed a character. Just a simple shape, like a capsule or something, that I could move around. Spent an afternoon getting the controls to feel okay. Used the standard WASD keys for movement, mouse to look around. That part wasn’t too bad, done it before. Got the little guy sliding around on a flat plane pretty quickly. Felt like a start, you know?
Making it Shoot
Okay, it’s called ‘shooter’, right? So, the next step was obvious. Had to make the character shoot. This took a bit longer. Found some guides online, watched a few videos. Pieced together some scripts to make it fire a little projectile when I clicked the mouse. Getting the bullet to actually go where I was pointing? That took some fiddling. Lots of trial and error. Sometimes it shot sideways, sometimes straight up. Eventually, got it mostly working. Little laser-like lines zipping out. Good enough.
Trying for the ‘Miami’ Feel
Now for the ‘Miami’ part. This was trickier. What even is that vibe? For me, it meant bright, neon colors. So, I started changing the colors of the basic blocks and the ground. Made things pink, teal, bright blue. Tried adding that glow effect you see everywhere. Then I thought, palm trees! Found a simple 3D model of a palm tree someone shared online, dropped it into my scene. Looked kinda lonely, just one tree. Added some basic cube buildings, slapped some bright emission on them. Didn’t exactly scream Miami Vice, but it was leaning in that direction, I guess.
Where are the Bad Guys?
A shooter needs something to shoot at. So, I tried making some simple enemies. Just basic red cubes that moved back and forth. Getting them to notice they’d been hit was another headache. First, they just ignored the shots. Then I made them disappear when a bullet hit. That worked, kinda felt cheap, but hey, progress! Didn’t bother with fancy AI or anything, just sliding blocks. It was just a quick test, after all.
Hitting a Wall
Honestly, after getting the shooting and some basic targets working, I kinda stalled. The whole thing felt… clunky. The movement wasn’t perfect, the shooting felt a bit off. The neon colors looked okay, but the scene felt empty. Making games, even tiny prototypes like this, is way harder than it looks. You spend hours tweaking one small thing, like how fast the character moves, or the color of a light. Sometimes you just hit a wall and don’t know what to add next. That’s kinda where I left it.
What I Ended Up With
So, yeah. I don’t have a full ‘Shooter Miami’ game. What I have is a little test scene on my hard drive. You can run around as a capsule, shoot neon lines at sliding red blocks, and there’s a single palm tree under some glowing cube buildings. It was a fun little experiment, learned a few things, reminded myself that game dev takes a ton of work. Maybe I’ll open it up again someday, maybe not. It was just a way to kill a weekend, really.
