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Turbine Tapper

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Objective

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Create a small game with the goal of promoting environmental change.

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My Roles

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Programming Lead, UI Design

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Duration

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7 days

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Platform

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PC

Game Details

Turbine Tapper is our submission for IndieCade’s annual Climate Jam of 2021.  For this jam, the theme was about environmental awareness and change.  This is a typical “cookie clicker”-esque game, where instead of receiving baked goods you receive energy units.  You can use these energy units to upgrade gathering efficiency and passive energy generation.  With these points, you can also purchase some customization options, including different buttons.

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Design Timeline/Process

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This was a very small development window for us, less than anything we were used to.  We had a total of seven days to conceptualize and develop a game.  As such, we ran through some pretty small, simple game concepts before we chose the game concept you see here.  I worked in Unity as the programmer of the game.  While I did know how to code in other languages, C# wasn’t a language I was familiar with, especially in the context of working with a game engine.  I had to sift through tutorials and online forums to figure out what I needed to do, with an emphasis on not simply following a cookie clicker tutorial so I could actually learn about how Unity ticks.  I also designed the basis of the UI before it was handed off to someone else who was in charge of the UI design.  Work and progress was constantly being made as a result of this time limitation, but it served as a good challenge for us.

Inspirations

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Cookie Clicker: The colloquial namesake of this genre of game, Cookie Clicker is a very popular web browser game involving clicking a cookie to gain points and spend these points on making point collecting more efficient. 

AdVenture Capitalist: A pretty similar game to Cookie Clicker in function, AdVenture Capitalist served as an inspiration for our UI design and layout.  We also took cues from the game’s sound design such as individual sounds for the different upgrades.

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Concepts/Development

The development of Turbine Tapper is something I remember as chaotic.  The limited time frame was worrying to us, especially since this was most people’s first time working with an actual game.  Despite this, we were all adept in various skills that would benefit the game, and they came together in a way that made the game look and feel professional.

Game Result

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Turnine Tapper was completed and submitted to IndieCade on time; polished, responsive, and without any bugs.  Turbine Tapper was presented along with all the other projects submitted in an online event streamed to Twitch and Youtube.  After the event, we were awarded with “honorable mention” by the judging committee, one of the 10 games selected out of a pool of 30, and our game was again featured on another event hosted on Twitch and Youtube.  It was the first time a project of mine received any sort of award, so it was a pretty nice feeling for me.

Reflection

Turbine Tapper was a pretty simple project.  It had to be, given our timeframe.  But nonetheless it was one that I’m proud of.  It was my first real programming project since my days gunning for a computer science and software engineering degree, and it was fulfilling to me how the code was being used this time around.  I also learned a lot about how to deal with a team with such diverse mindsets and goals.  It caused some confusion and frustration at times, but it ended up going really well.

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