Commander Coco's Stellar Domination

Inspiration

The inspiration behind creating Commander Coco's Stellar Domination, a 2D endless arcade shooter, stems from a combination of personal elements and creative vision. The concept of Commander Coco, a dictator bunny, was influenced by our team lead’s pet bunny. We wanted to give this cute yet seemingly innocent character a twist, so we imagined him locked in an epic struggle against his evolutionary predator, the kitsune, which brought an exciting narrative contrast.

Game Design

From the start, we aimed to create something that wasn’t just fun but impactful. Our goal was to immerse players in a quirky yet intense world, offering a unique design and aesthetic that sets Commander Coco apart. We combined humor and challenge, reflecting both the high stakes of this dictator bunny's mission and the lighthearted feel of an arcade shooter.

Replay Ability and Challenge

Replay ability was a key focus for us—we’ve always been drawn to challenging games that push players to improve with each run. By making the game endlessly replay able with increasing difficulty, we aimed to capture that sense of reward that comes with overcoming progressively tougher obstacles. We wanted to create something that balances fun, challenge, and uniqueness, making sure players have a reason to keep coming back for more.

Technologies Used

Commander Coco's Stellar Domination was built using C# and Unity, tools that allowed us to implement fast-paced gameplay and create a visually engaging 2D arcade shooter. Unity’s physics and animation systems were instrumental in bringing our vision to life, but they also came with unique challenges that we had to overcome as a team.

Challenges Faced

Random Spawns with Increasing Difficulty

One of the most challenging aspects was designing an algorithm for generating random enemy spawns that progressively increase in difficulty. We wanted to ensure that as players advanced, they would face faster projectiles without making the game feel unfair. Balancing randomness with structured difficulty progression required a lot of tweaking, especially during a fast-paced event like a hackathon. We relied heavily on C# to script spawn behavior, dynamically adjusting the rate and difficulty curve as the player survived longer.

Collision Issues

Implementing smooth and accurate collisions was another significant hurdle. We had multiple layers of collision to manage, including:

Player projectiles colliding with Kitsune projectiles
Kitsune projectiles colliding with the player
Player colliding with player projectiles

At first, there were issues where the player’s projectiles would collide with their own character or fail to detect hits on enemies properly. Kitsune projectiles would sometimes clip through the player without registering a hit, and in some cases, player and enemy projectiles would interact when they shouldn’t have. We spent a lot of time debugging these interactions, learning how to manage Unity’s physics layers and trigger colliders effectively.

Art and Animation

Our team lead faced the daunting task of creating all the game’s art and animation from scratch during the hackathon. This included designing the main character, Commander Coco, animating enemy movements, and creating dynamic visual effects. Considering the tight timeframe, the sheer amount of work needed for the visual elements was a major challenge. The art had to be not only aesthetically cohesive but also optimized to work smoothly with Unity's animation system, which added to the complexity.

Audio Programming

One of our team members was working with audio programming for the first time. Implementing background music that responded well in-game presented a steep learning curve. Despite their inexperience, they managed to integrate background ,music which greatly enhanced the overall gameplay experience. Learning Unity’s audio system from scratch during the hackathon was a big achievement.

Creating Commander Coco's Stellar Domination was an intense yet rewarding process. By leveraging C# and Unity, overcoming technical challenges, and working as a cohesive team, we were able to deliver a game that we're proud of. Every hurdle pushed us to think creatively and work together to solve problems on the fly, especially during the high-pressure environment of the hackathon.

We hope you enjoy playing Commander Coco's Stellar Domination as much as we enjoyed creating it!