Project “Off Compass” is a movement-shooter rhythm game that uses song sections as level stages, beats as enemy spawns, and lyrical content for level design. The end product is a cohesive challenge to “beat” what the song throws at you.
Made solo in Unity as a summer project
It spawns new waves of enemies on the beat of the song, that will end the stage if they reach the center of the map. The player is armed with a shotgun, grapple hook, and Ground Pound (that activates after 5 seconds of airtime) to clear out the waves until the song ends.
System Design
I experimented with recreating the timed action mechanics of games such as Crypt of the Necrodancer or BPM: Bullets per Minute, but I couldn’t figure it out within Unity. I manged to make timed Events fire on a beat for the level objects, so those because my rhythmic mechanics instead.
My intention for this project was to figure out a rhythm game system rather than to start from scratch to make a satisfying Character to play, so I did use the Unity marketplace for the Character Controller (movement, grapple hook) and the Shotgun model.
I did however animate the shotgun, as I was inspired by standalone reload animations published on Youtube by Hyper.
The high mobility was chosen due to my preference for movement shooters.
Level Design
This level is an adaptation of the song “Off Compass Bars”, which features 4 fictional ideologies arguing in order for their positions.
I created 1 level with 4 “stages” of activation as the song progresses, whereby only one section of the level is active at a time.
The section of the map dedicated to Big Brother from 1984, gets a series of monitors in a V-shape to reflect the party logo. The monitors themselves are playing the song’s lyric video.
The enemies spawned from this section are simple and fall into rigid lines, which is both a easy introduction for the player, and thematic to the blind authoritarianism this ideology represents.
The Social Darwinist section simulates a city in rubble, that is more challanging to traverse for both the player and enemies. The spawn points are much closer to the center, giving the player less time to elimate them before a game over. This tenseness reflects the “survival of the fittest” ideal of this ideology.
The Egoist’s section is based on the idea of “spooks”, also known as “ghosts of the mind”. The enemies therefore float down to the center. This challenges the player by negating their Ground Pound ability, requiring them to rely more on their shotgun.
The Communalist’s section is a bit simpler, and primarily features giant waves of enemies which the player can effectively Ground Pound to wrap up the level.
The level look is flat-looking geometry, with memes and iconography slapped overwhere. The lighting flickers to the beat, and lights up the relevant area but otherwise, this shows the limits of my texturing ability.
Reception
Releasing the game on Twitter and tagging the creators of the original video, there was a brief buzz about it. They were happy that their work inspired fanwork, and a few people played it.
It was quite a niche market so this is about right.
