Agent

Someone commented how they were surprised that I built Bloodshift in Unity. It's probably true Bloodshift didn't need Unity. But I went to Unity for two reasons:

1. After the experience with Mindshift, I needed to make sure whatever engine I used was able to hand the size and scope of my project. RAGS just couldn't cut it, and the game was randomly but reliably destroying itself every other week (completely unexplainable deletions of data and code, total corruptions of working files, etc). So, I went to an engine I knew had built many of my favorite games.

2. Bloodshift wasn't the original game planned to be built on Unity. Go back a few Thrall posts and you'll see that there was a spiritual sequel to Mindshift called Controlshift, which used stock photography but was kind of a tactical planning game.

There was also a rudimentary recreation of Mindshift that included a swinging watch with physics, and that was optioned as a major  gameplay mechanic.

There was also an office game where characters move around an overhead office map on a schedule. It was kind of based around sabotage and subterfuge, planting devices and subliminals at your coworkers' stations. I used to have the building maps but I can't find them anymore.

It was at this point that I realized I was going to need real artwork to make any game involving live movement. So here is where "Agent" comes in. I was inspired by my own MC mods of Fallout 3 and New Vegas. I liked the idea of having a main character with many skill points, but if he had companions with more points in a skill, like lockpicking, then they could take over. So you MC who you need to with the necessary skills. But they also follow you around and can help in combat.

So basically what I was creating was a topdown shooter that basically functions like Fallout: New Vegas, otherwise. The two sketches above are the cartoonized versions of Bryci and Hayden Winters as fighting companions. I had basic mechanics of movement and shooting done, companion following wasn't working quite so well.

As I came to realize how much art was going to have to be generated to make Agent, I abandoned it in favor of returning to the stock photo approach, since I had so many resources leftover from Mindshift, it would make sense to use it.

So, I hope you enjoyed this look behind the curtain! What kind of game would you like to see made?