Retro Runner#

RETRO RUNNER 1.0 RELEASE DOWNLOAD HERE.

Retro Runner is an infinite runner game which I made in December. I originally created this game to challenge myself to create a one-button game. As well as create a mobile game as opposed to my usual desktop games. But I chose to polish it and then publish it to the google play store.

Mechanics#

Jumping is the only control the player has. This caused me to further improve jumping controls as the jump required to be solid for the game to be remotely successful. First, I made the jump variable based on if the input is held down. Which allowed for more precise control. Additionally, I changed fall gravity that stops the jump from having a ‘floaty’ feel as the jump curve is no longer a parabola. This is required for tight jump controls in games and is very often used in platformer games with Mario being the most notable for this mechanic.

While jumping over gaps and obstacles creates a solid start to a gameplay loop for the game. I added a gem pickup mechanic which gave the game replayability. This allowed the player to buy and equip upgrades to mix up the gameplay. Additionally, a motorbike gem can be picked up which places the player on a motorcycle which makes them move faster and get a higher score quickly. Not only that but it also provides the player with an extra life which allows the player to die and come back immediately with a couple seconds of immortality so the player can re-adjust themselves.

Visuals#

The game is 3D and uses a vaporwave/retro wave art style which gives the game unique visuals, especially in comparison to most mobile games. This is due to most games in this genre being 2D. This did come with some difficulties as the reason 2D games are more common on mobile as they are far less demanding on the phone. This means the game runs better and the phone also runs cooler. As demanding games can heat up a player’s phone as quickly and make it uncomfortable to play. I needed to be careful of these factors. Otherwise, performance issues could quickly ruin a player’s experience.

Fortunately, Unity provides some eBooks that can be downloaded which help with this very problem which was vital to my game being performant and providing a stable framerate as this game requires quick reactions and inputs. This means if the framerate is low the game would be completely unplayable which did occur a few times when testing the game before all the optimisations were put in place.

Conclusion#

I was incredibly pleased with how the game turned out in the end. With me achieving all the challenges that I set out to achieve. As well as expanding my knowledge of mobile game development significantly and improving my skills as a developer.

If you enjoyed reading this consider downloading Retro Runner and trying the game out for yourself here!