Specifications:
1) Internet enabled multiplayer first person shooter up to 32 players on 2 teams.
2) Players can host servers or join them.
3) Multiple weapons and power ups like teleportation to choose from.
4) Building blocks feature, create forts and other stuff!
5) Two huge maps to play on
6) Underwater gameplay too
7) Server chat
8) PC, Mac, and web browser compatible - made in Unity 3D C#
Unity Web Player | Prototype
I wanted to try my hand at making an online connected multiplayer game. What better than one of my favorite genres?
First I wanted to tackle basic player functionality, so most of the game was designed as if single player at first. I used a lot of internet resources to help with a lot of the functionality such as crouching and under water mechanics.
Probably the most challenging part was getting the balance of weapons right once I created them. I didn't want some to be too powerful, but in particular, I wanted the laser to shoot fast and be deadly too.
The UI was also pretty challenging believe it or not. I wasn't very experienced, if at all, with Unity GUI elements and had to learn from scratch here. I'm quite happy with the result.
The multiplayer is handled almost entirely by Unity's [RPC] commands. Following the advice of a very similar multiplayer FPS guide, I tried and learned that having multiple cameras in a game can be taxing. I had to learn how to properly handle having multiple cameras in the game which is done by switching the main camera, and only the main camera, to the main player. So the only camera in the player's instance is his own.
There were a ton of bugs moving forward especially because I deviated from a lot of internet resources to run with my own ideas. I am shocked with how much I accomplished in only 2 weeks and how well a lot of the original elements I came up with worked out.
Regarding the maps, the main map (click for image) is fairly straight forward. I designed it with the intention of having a main funnel across 2 large islands where most combat would occur. There are 2 parrallel paths as well for anyone wanting to flank. But I made it complicated with water combat, which slows down the players significantly forcing their hand to use up teleportation to maneuver.
The second map is a more classic texture-less map that has 3 routes of gameplay. The center is an open free for all, the left has a few tighter hallways with turns, and the right is a long narrow open path.
Probably the biggest thing I learned from the project is the need to properly and neatly write, document, and keep track of my code after working on it for so long. When a bug would come up, it was getting harder and harder to back track through multiple scripts and classes or methods to find the issue, occasionally breaking more than fixing things.
