Centipede 3D
Overview
In this game, I recreate the classic Atari game, Centipede, but in a 1st person shooter style. The goal was to modernize Centipede in a 3D format. While I am modernizing it, I also want to keep the simplicity so that the game isn't too complex. Keeping it simple was easy since I limited what new gameplay mechanics I could add to make the recreation my own.
Developed in 1 week
Role: Gameplay Designer / Game Programmer (Blueprints)
Tools: Unreal Engine 5 / Maya
Game Trailer
Gameplay Design
Inspirations
I had 1 week to create a Retro themed game for a school game jam and decided to recreate Centipede.
I chose Centipede due to its simplicity and potential to implement my own gameplay mechanics.
Spatial Control
Since the map is a small box, the player doesn't have much room to move around so they need to be aware of how they are positioned in the room. The player also has to keep track of all the centipede locations as they are constantly moving and getting closer to the ground, where they can start attacking the player.
Cautions Combat
When the centipede gets hit, there are two outcomes, they get hit in the head which is the best case or they get hit in the body which leads to the centipede splitting and creating more enemies to keep track of and attack. So the player needs to be cautious on where they shoot so they don't create more problems, but then if they are too cautious, the centipedes will close in on the player. So the combat is all about balancing your attack speed with your attack accuracy.
Retro Design
I wanted the visual effects and sound effects to match the retro theme going on. The weapon, mushrooms, and centipedes are all made up of primitive shapes as they are simple and simple fits the retro theme. Everything is also textured in a pixelated style that also helps give the feeling of retro.
Technical Design
Centipedes
The centipede enemy is the most important mechanic in this game which means it needs to be the most polished. The centipede starts off by spawning in a random location in the sky and zig zags its way down the sky until it reaches the ground. Once it reaches the ground, it charges at the player.
If the centipede is damaged, there are two outcomes, either it gets hit in the body where it will split into 2 separate enemies and spawn a mushroom in its current location. Or if it gets hit in the head, its body will get shortened.
Wave Difficulty Increase
At the start of each wave, a set amount of mushrooms spawn in to pollute the sky and provide protection for the centipedes and quicker access to the floor. Once the mushrooms spawn in, centipedes start spawning in over time until they are all spawned in.
At the end of each wave, 3 variables are increased which raises the difficulty the longer you play. One variable is the length of the enemies' body which gets increased. Another is the enemies' movement speed which gets increased. The last one is the amount of enemy spawns.
Powerups
When an enemy is defeated, they have a chance to drop 1 of 3 powerups to give the player a temporary advantage. Each ability is active for a certain amount of time and multiple can be active at once.
The first powerup increases the player's movement speed. The second powerup decreases the movement speed of the centipedes. The last powerup gives the player's weapon an automatic firing mode.
Score
The objective of the game is to get the highest score. There are a couple ways the player can get points: destroying a part of the centipede's body which grants 10 points, hitting the centipede in the head which grants 100 points, destroying a mushroom which grants 1 point, and clearing a wave which grants 5k points.
Commentated Gameplay
Closing Thoughts
Having to create a complete game in just 1 week is very difficult and a great learning experience. Due to the lack of time, it forced me to choose what gameplay mechanics I would add as I couldn't do them all, or if I did them all, they would be underwhelming and lack the impact a complete mechanic does. This game really taught me how important proper game design is for a project as it sets a clear end goal that I need to aim towards to complete my game. Going on to my next projects, I will be incorporating better pre development design to ease my process of building games.