Aegis Initiative
- 20+ person project
- 3D aerial arcade shooter
- Made in Unity
- ~1 year in development (2020-21)
- Role: Design Lead (Student)
- Contributions: New member training, general documentation, oversaw stage implementation
Itch.io page
Overview
Aegis Initiative was my final project with Heatwave Studios at ASU, and was developed entirely through online meetings due to the ongoing pandemic.
This game is a 3D shooter in the vein of Star Fox, with a number of copilots featuring their own abilities to offer and story beats to unlock.
After initial brainstorming of the game's stages, those deemed appropriate for the project were claimed by one or two designers each to be designed and implemented.
During this process, my role as a Design Lead was largely to oversee this development by helping with difficulties and facilitating communication between members and teams when needed.
I also wrote a selection of general documentation, and worked with the other Design Lead on our own stage.
Lessons Learned
Keep your design goals focused.
The game's concept was actually a combination of two ideas that were initially pitched, that being a pure Star Fox style 3D shooter and something resembling the chao garden from Sonic Adventure 2, which turned into the copilot system. In retrospect, I'm unsure of whether putting these ideas together was the right move - while we were passionate about the idea for the project, it also significantly increased the amount of work required for the game. Since we cut parts of both ideas from the final product, perhaps sticking to one or the other would have allowed us to realize the experience more fully.
The game's concept was actually a combination of two ideas that were initially pitched, that being a pure Star Fox style 3D shooter and something resembling the chao garden from Sonic Adventure 2, which turned into the copilot system. In retrospect, I'm unsure of whether putting these ideas together was the right move - while we were passionate about the idea for the project, it also significantly increased the amount of work required for the game. Since we cut parts of both ideas from the final product, perhaps sticking to one or the other would have allowed us to realize the experience more fully.