Inspiration
My CS friends would often ask me for tips on coding faster and efficiently, so I initially wanted to make a simulator or adventure-type game that teaches them the common IDE shortcuts.
I ended up simplifying the concept to something easier to accomplish within 24hours, which is a simple typing game, with the end goal being the same, which is to help my friends get used to typing.
What it does
A survival game in which you type common keywords to defeat enemies before they defeat you! There are powerups along the way to aid your battle, along with a score system to motivate yourself.
How I built it
Main functionalities of the game were all done in Unity. Starting from getting the base game, a simple typing test, then the powerups.
Sprites and animations were all made in Aseprite.
Music and SFX all taken from free sources, with the appropriate licenses.
Built for WebGL, to allow both Mac and Windows users to play.
Challenges I ran into
This is my first time implementing a skill system, and doing the art for a game on my own. Time management was the first issue, since I had no experience doing both coding and art simultaneously, so I had to fix hard deadlines for myself, to ensure that the minimal assets were done in time, for a more polished game.
I spent a good 2 hours revising the game mechanics and my to-do list, which really gave me unnecessary stress since I felt I was lagging behind from the start.
Accomplishments that I'm proud of
I think my art has improved a lot, although the aesthetics for the game is very plain and simple. I'm also pretty impressed with my thought processes and attitude throughout the Hackathon! I'm glad I did not hesitate to try and implement things I've never done before, even if they did take a good chunk of time.
What I learned
I've learnt the importance of playtesting my game as much as possible at every stage. Without the help of my tablemates and friends, most of the bugs I would not have managed to find and patch out, some were game breaking as well.
What's next for Debuggle
I plan to update Debuggle as I continue my CS journey in NUS and pick up new languages. Hopefully I can categorise the words that could appear by Language, instead of just a cluster of common words.
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