Developer: James Wilburn | VECTOR_interactive
Released: TBC
Contact: vectorcreativeltd@gmail.com
Ocean Hero was originally designed and developed as a ‘Game-A-Week’ project that aimed to blend ‘PSX Visuals’ with ‘Retro Mechanics’. Further development has been undertaken to complete and polish the experience into a vertical slice; ready for scaled development.
About
Inspired by ‘Rail-shooters’ and the low poly aesthetics of yesteryear (Star-fox 64), ‘Ocean Hero’ is a demo that highlights the story based adventure of Captain Nautilus and his band of submarine pilots, as they battle the evil ‘Industrium’.
The narrative is light, comical and very capable of being scaled into a fully blown game with multiple variations of narrative.
Gameplay Inspirations.
The Foundation
‘Ocean Hero’ takes inspiration from two separate genres. Mechanically; Rail Shooters were the primary source of inspiration, with games like StarFox 64 providing viewport and aesthetic basis.
The Twist
‘StarFox 64’ is a classic game, by all means, and so developing a modernized interpretation required a fair bit of thought. The timeframe provided also required that this thinking period was condensed down too. In the end, the designer decided on three key areas for improvement.
- Increase the frequency of action/dialogue/events.
- Modernize the dialogue and physics.
- Fill out the environment with more assets.
Features
Rail Shooter
The camera is fixed on to ‘dolly’ that is slowly pushed down a track. The player ‘ship’ follows a targeting reticle and automatically positions itself according to where said reticle is on screen.
The dolly is able to be slowed down and speed up, according to player input.
‘Ocean Hero’ speeds up the movement of the player ‘ship’ to give more instantaneous response to player input.
The ‘Dolly’ track is also more varied in ‘Ocean Hero’ having more twists and turns that in the original.
Unity Physics
The world around the player is bought to life with the select use of physics available in Unity Game Engine.
Seaweed swaying, tails wiggling and lights waving; all small touches that help bring life and nature to the world around the player by providing opportunity for dynamic movement and influence.
An Immersive and Reactive World
The world of ‘Ocean Hero’ is well thought out and contains opportunities for exploration through multiple path options and elements that react to player input. The world itself flows with the tides, moving back and forth in gently motions akin to the depths of the ocean.
