Alright folks, gather ’round, lemme tell you ’bout this crazy project I tackled. The title? Yeah, “in the first age in the first battle” – sounds epic, right? Well, it was…kinda.
So, it all started when I got this idea, see? I wanted to build, like, a retro-style game, all pixelated and stuff, kinda like those old DOS games. And the theme? You guessed it, something ancient and war-torn. I envisioned this lone warrior, facing hordes of enemies, in, well, the first age and the first battle!
First things first, the engine. I went with Unity, ’cause I’m somewhat familiar with it. Downloaded the latest version, created a new 2D project, and boom – we got a blank canvas to work with.
Next up, the art. Now, I’m no artist, let me tell you. My drawing skills are, shall we say, rudimentary. But I ain’t one to back down from a challenge! I fired up GIMP (free and awesome, by the way), zoomed in like crazy, and started pixel-pushing. The warrior? Looked like a blocky mess. The enemies? Even worse. But hey, it’s retro, right? Charmingly bad is the goal!
Movement was tricky. I wanted that classic, stiff, arcade-y feel. Spent a whole day wrestling with Unity’s physics engine. Finally, I got something that felt…okay-ish. The warrior could walk, jump (sort of), and swing a sword (a ridiculously oversized pixelated sword, I might add).
Enemy AI? Don’t even ask. They basically just shuffled towards the player, like zombies after a brain buffet. But hey, they were numerous! I spawned ’em in waves, and suddenly, it kinda felt like a battle. A clunky, pixelated, hilariously unbalanced battle, but a battle nonetheless.
Sound effects! Can’t forget those. Used a free sound generator online to whip up some 8-bit explosions, sword clangs, and death groans. They sounded awful, but in a good way, you know? Adds to the “charm”.
Then came the level design. I threw together some platforms, a background that looked like a lava pit (because why not?), and called it a day. It wasn’t pretty, but it was functional.
The biggest hurdle? Balance. The game was either ridiculously easy or impossibly hard. Spent ages tweaking enemy spawn rates, damage values, and the warrior’s stats. I think I eventually landed on something…*. You die a lot. But, that’s the spirit of the game!
So, there you have it. “In the first age in the first battle” – a testament to what you can achieve with limited skills, free software, and a whole lotta stubbornness.
- Learned a ton about Unity’s 2D tools.
- Discovered I’m a terrible pixel artist.
- Realized game balancing is pure witchcraft.
Would I do it again? Probably not. But hey, at least I can say I made a game. A really, really bad game. But a game nonetheless!
