Overview / Usage

"Fly through surreal landscapes desperately trying to get 15 hoops. It's impossible to dodge everything, so start smashing. You have 10 shields, each hoop adds 1 more. It's not enough." Sounds simple, but we faced 3 big challenges:

1. Procedural generation. Unity is great, but procedural generation is not its forte. The attached PDF explains what we did (buffering meshes - who knew!). Enjoy?
2. Mesh deformation. What sets Endlight apart is the fact you can smash through the landscape. Modifying the mesh of a Unity GameObject is easy, but keeping performance (especially on mobile) is TRICKY.
3. Containing the love.

Methodology / Approach

Early on we focused on 3 things:

1. Core gameplay (ignoring graphics). Perfecting player movement, and ensuring landscapes complimented it.
2. Procedurally generating landscapes to inspire human level designers.
3. Optimization. Batched Meshes (to lower draw calls), Multi-threading.

After this strong foundation was laid, it never changed. The rest of development focused on graphics/atmosphere/style/sound/music rather than technical challenges. Early optimization meant we had a lot of room to add effects, more effects than we dreamed possible. We played the game constantly, iterated on what worked and removed what didn't (hopefully). Along the way many bugs appeared that made the game more interesting - we incorporated them. Was this a good approach? WHO KNOWS.

Technologies Used

• Unity (many versions, now on 2020)
• Unity Asset: AmplifyColor (post processing effects)
• Unity Asset: I2 Localization
• Developed on a variety of Windows/Intel machines. Few crashes, few complaints (honest!)
• Utilizes 2 cores: 1 for main game & rendering, 1 for particle translation/scaling/rotation
• We would have used more optimization tools BUT there's nothing left to optimize. We've batched Unity to the limit, and already max out 2 cores. Bring it "Summer Of Boost" testers. Bring. It.

To ensure good performance on older machines, and maximum compatibility across laptops, Endlight was partially developed and constantly tested on a MS Surface Pro 3 (Intel I5). At 1280x720p, Endlight manages 30fps at full quality (2 cores). Thanks to this baseline, all of our external testers have had no issues running the game and they typically manage 60fps+. We were surprised and impressed that we could develop on a Surface Pro 3 Intel I5. One day this Surface Pro will make a great frisbee, BUT NOT TODAY.

Documents and Presentations

Other links

• 100% Official Website