Glossary 3
Introduction 5
1 Software theory of creating video games 7
1.1 Overview of general classifications of video games 7
1.1.1 Classification of games by platform 7
1.1.2 Classification of games by graphics 8
1.2 Analysis of game engines 10
2 Requirement analysis, development tools and high-level system presentation 12
2.1 Functional and non-functional requirements 12
2.2 Problem domain model 13
2.3 Domain formalization 13
2.4 Technologies and tools 17
3 Game engine and tools overview 21
3.1 Unity Engine 21
3.2 Unity Animation. 22
3.3 Unity Sprite Editor 23
3.4 Unity Tilemap Palette 25
4 Technical game analysis 26
4.1 Overview 26
4.2 Systems 26
4.3 Mechanics 36
4.4 Flows 38
Conclusion 41
References 42
Appendice A Additional illustrations 43
Background
This work is written on the basis of a development project of a 2D life simulator game. In order to comply with the non-disclosure agreements, only data that is non-sensitive and public will be used for this work.
The primary goal of this project is to develop an alpha version of the game with core mechanisms and features.
Motivation
Noticing that “LITTLE SIM WORLD” game project doesn’t have any competition in the market and is missing a lot of features and improvements that fans have been asking and wishing for, for years, the motivation is to start a project to bring something new to the market, something that will satisfy these fans’ wants and requests.
Problem formulation
Using the knowledge learned during this bachelor degree and work experience in order to develop and design a prototype of a videogame using the Unity engine. Parts of the project that are not directly related to the architecture or code are not a part of this paper. The art of the game is made by a paid artist as my objectives and motivations are not related with art.
Specific objectives
• Design from scratch the whole game including writing the game’s scripts, creating the game character models and their animations and the game world scene.
• Learn to manage tasks and carry out the project satisfactorily.
• Achieve a fun gameplay for players by playtesting what will be made.
• Learn to balance the game in order to make it fun to play.
• Implement all base life simulator game components at the highest levels of industry standards.
Scope of the project
The final scope of the project is to release a game that is accepted by the target audience of this project and at the level of expectations.
As part of this work, the base functionalities and content of this genre has been developed in this game successfully. Most set tasks corresponding to the implementation of the formulated requirements were solved. The potential to expand the developed solution allows the possible further development of the functionalities and content of the sim game. The pre-alpha version of the game has been released on Patreon and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive.
