Essentials of real-time 3D --> A year on

Welcome to "Essentials of Real-Time 3D"! Use the arrow keys, WASD, or the left stick to control the track and navigate the ball to the end to win. Make sure to do so before the time runs out.

You might be wondering about the odd name, "Essentials of Real-Time 3D." Well, it's a homage to the first thing I ever produced on my own in Unity. A year ago, on May 7, 2023, I published my first creation in Unity, it was a outcome of a lesson called "Essentials of Real-Time 3D." In that lesson, the task was simple: create a marble track for a ball to roll down and texture it. Ironically, the theme was "The floor is lava." I felt the timing of this jam was perfect to reflect on how far I've come since then. While I'm not among the top 1% of indie game devs ;p, this game showcases my progress and how proud I am of it. You can check out my first 'game' here https://play.unity.com/mg/other/main-game-7 this was generally the extent of my skills at the time, i could not do more than this.

I had mixed feelings about participating in this jam. I generally find two-day jams very stressful, but wanted to get back into game dev after my short break and showcase my progress, as such I opted to keep things simple. Initially, I wanted to create a game where you act as a train conductor, shifting tracks to get as many balls through as possible. However, despite my recent efforts to improve my C# programming skills, I couldn't figure out how to implement it in the time available. So, I shifted to the marble run approach.

I also aimed to explore areas I hadn't worked on before, like creating cool effects. Most of the first day was dedicated to crafting the lava and particle effects. While they're not as impressive as what the tutorial I watched showed, it was still enjoyable to play with the shader graph for a few hours. I feel like I've gained a good grasp of it.

Additionally, I saw this game as a way to refresh myself as I return to game development after a few months' break due to work commitments and stress. I'm really looking forward to going all out for the gamedev.tv Jam later this month. It holds a special place for me as it was the first step I took to create my own unique game. I'm quite excited about it.

During the break, I wasn't completely disconnected from work. I spent a lot of time doing C# programming courses. While they haven't significantly improved my natural coding abilities, they've helped me understand the fundamentals of coding, which I've always struggled with.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy my game, and good luck with the Jam! :)

Credits:

3d:
Kenney Game Assets All-in-1 2.2.0

Synty Adventure Pack

2D:
Microsoft Co-Pilot Designer

Stylized Lava Materials

Swirl Red Abstract Free Photo

Sound:
Dell geoffharvey (https://pixabay.com/users/geoffharvey-9096471/)
Pixabay

Inspiration:

Gabriel Aguiar Prod. Unity Shader Graph - Lava Effect Tutorial (