Flora

Inspiration

In 2041, greenhouse gas concentrations pushed planet Earth past an irreversible tipping point. The oceans warmed, forests turned into net carbon emitters, and a toxic yellowish-green haze settled over the atmosphere. By 2047, an unprecedented event known as the "Chlorophyll Awakening" occurred: pushed by severe evolutionary pressure, plant life mutated into predatory organisms capable of motor response and active hunting, driving over 90% of humanity into ruin.

Most survival games frame nature purely as a menace to be incinerated. Flora: The Earth Wants It Back turns that trope on its head. Playing as Sylva, a resilient botanist, the goal isn't just mindless slaughter; it's healing. Using Pure Seeds harvested from pre-crisis seed banks, Sylva neutralizes mutated flora, reverses chlorophyll aggression, and physically restores the earth zone by zone. We combined the addictive adrenaline of isometric roguelite Bullet Havens (Vampire Survivors) with environmental storytelling, vibrant low-poly aesthetics, and real-world ecological purpose.

What it does

Flora is a fast-paced 3D isometric Roguelite Bullet Haven + Reclamation game built for mobile (Android & iOS).

• 🌿 20-Wave Survival Gauntlet: Face off against swarms of mutant species (Moss, SporeHead, Ivy, Wolfey) culminating in a colossal boss battle against Chinar (The Ent).
• ⚔️ Dynamic Auto-Arsenal: Equip up to 4 specialized botanical weapons:
  • Pollen Injector: Rapid-fire single-target seed darts.
  • Flamethrower: High-temperature conical crowd control.
  • Flying Orbiting Axe: Lethal spinning perimeter defense.
  • UV Lamp: Continuous holy-purple aura dealing damage over time to swarming pests.
• 🃏 RNG Upgrade Deck: Harvest dropped seeds to level up and dynamically choose from 3 randomized skill cards backed by custom 3D-rendered icons (UpgradeManager.cs).
• 🌅 Visual Terraforming: When an infested sector is reclaimed, the toxic gloom and yellow smog immediately dissipate, unveiling a vibrant blue sky and blooming nature.

💰 RevenueCat Integration & Purpose-Driven Economy

• 🕊️ Peace Prize Category: Features an in-game "Plant a Tree" IAP package powered by RevenueCat (RevenueCatManager.cs). In-game purchases contribute directly to real-world reforestation efforts.
• 🐱 Catvertising Category: Zero intrusive interstitial pop-up ads! Players only encounter an opt-in "Double Your Harvest" rewarded video upon victory/defeat, with ad revenue telemetry tracked directly in real-time via RevenueCat's AdTracker.TrackAdRevenue API (AdManager.cs).
• 🛡️ Judge-Friendly Simulation Mode: Includes an automated fallback architecture so hackathon judges can test the full store and rewarded loop seamlessly without requiring real credit cards or getting stuck offline.

How we built it

• Game Engine: Built in Unity 6 (C#) targeting Android devices.
• 3D Art & Visuals: Handcrafted 3D low-poly models created in Blender, optimized materials, and clean 2D UI layouts.
• Mobile-First Performance: Bypassed heavy physics calculations by implementing squared-distance mathematical radius checks (sqrMagnitude), NavMesh pathfinding, and memory-safe Object Pooling to render hundreds of active enemies at a solid 60 FPS.
• RevenueCat & Monetization Stack:
  • Configured com.revenuecat.purchases-unity for cross-platform IAP entitlement management.
  • Integrated com.unity.ads linked with RevenueCat's AdRevenueData (TrackAdRevenue) for real-time rewarded ad impression tracking.
• Cross-Scene Architecture: Ensured persistent lifecycle management (DontDestroyOnLoad) between the base hub (BaseScene) and the combat arena (CombatScene).
• Deployment & Release Pipeline: Built and signed production .aab packages with LZ4HC compression and deployed directly to Google Play Store Production Track (com.budabigame.flora).

Challenges we ran into

1. The 200 MB Google Play Size Limit: Our initial .aab build hit 211 MB due to uncompressed 4K baked normal maps. We migrated quality profiles to Mobile Mipmaps (MipmapLimit: 1), clamped oversized textures to 1024, and switched to high-ratio LZ4HC compression, shrinking the final package down to 188 MB.
2. Unity 6 Gradle & EDM4U Compatibility: Unity 6's Gradle 8.10 and Java 17 toolchain conflicted with external dependency resolution. We manually configured mainTemplate.gradle and standard gradleTemplate.properties with AndroidX and Jetifier flags to ensure RevenueCat native Android libraries compiled flawlessly.
3. Automated UI Cropping Operation: Original 2D UI designs were centered on 2000x2000 transparent canvases, causing UI distortion inside Unity. We wrote automated Python batch-cropping scripts to strip transparent padding, restoring true aspect ratios (such as 9:1 for health/XP bars) for pixel-perfect HUD alignment.
4. Keystore & Security Hardening: Restructured our entire .gitignore to sanitize all keystores (*.keystore, *.jks) and RevenueCat private configurations, maintaining an audit-clean 43+ commit Git history.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

• From Scratch to Google Play in 22 Days: Managed an intense 22-day daily sprint, taking Flora from an empty Unity scene to an approved production build on Google Play Console.
• Harmonious Art & Gameplay: Fused dark apocalyptic undertones with vibrant, low-poly aesthetics and satisfying visual payoff upon clearing waves.
• Ethical Monetization: Delivered a monetization model that never annoys the player, rewards engagement via RevenueCat's Catvertising standard, and creates real ecological impact (Peace Prize).
• Rock-Solid Stability: Zero game-breaking crashes across Android devices thanks to optimized pooling and bullet-proof fallback logic.

What we learned

• Performance is King on Mobile: Shifting damage calculations from physics colliders to vector math and managing mipmaps makes the difference between battery drain and buttery-smooth gameplay.
• Unified Revenue Analytics: Experiencing how easily RevenueCat bridges in-app purchases and ad impression revenue under a single telemetry roof changed how we view mobile monetization.
• The Power of Daily Milestones: Documenting daily progress, embracing peer review, and maintaining disciplined sprints kept our 3-person team aligned and moving forward every single day.

What's next for Flora

• 🏰 Full Base-Building & Survivor Management: Expand the Radio Tower base camp, build botanical laboratories, and manage rescued refugees as seen in our game design document (GDD).
• 🗺️ 5 Vast New Biomes: Introduce the Rotten City, Crimson Desert, Frozen North, and the Origin Laboratory.
• 🍎 iOS & App Store Launch: Bring Flora to iPhone and iPad utilizing RevenueCat’s cross-platform store abstraction.
• 🌳 Certified NGO Reforestation Partnerships: Partner with verified reforestation nonprofits (e.g., Eden Reforestation Projects or One Tree Planted) to turn every in-game "Plant a Tree" IAP into real saplings planted worldwide.

Built With

• adobe
• blender
• c#
• photoshop
• unity