Inspiration
This project was inspired by our shared interest in math and physics, as well as Angry Birds Space.
What is AstroFarer?
AstroFarer is a very basic 2D space flight simulator that allows you to experience the annoyingly difficult nuances of moving in space while being affected by the gravity of planets. Its gravity mechanics are based on real-life equations so that your ship can burn up and explode in the most accurate way possible.
How we built it
In order to simulate realistic motion and planet gravity, we had to develop our own physics engine using Unity's rigidbody and collision systems, along with a healthy dose of trigonometry and vectors.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Our physics engine working almost the way it's supposed to is something we're very proud of. Also having a semi-functional project that we could show to people and submit was quite the accomplishment for our team of two.
Challenges we ran into
Right off the bat, paid subscription plans and a niche MacOS bug prevented us from collaborating on the same Unity file using Unity Teams. However, the biggest issue was probably the whole project imploding 12 hours before submission that was made worse by us not using proper version control to prevent losing that much progress.
What we learned
By making this game, we learned a lot about the Unity game engine and the nuances of C# (namely the Mathf tools). We also learned how to improvise and work around all of the difficulties that reared their ugly heads during development.
What's next for AstroFarer
A functional menu and working sound effects. After that, we're planning to make a local multiplayer game mode where players battle it out with lasers (that will also be affected by gravity), points, and upgrade paths. We're probably going to add moving asteroids too.
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