Neon Coil

Neon Coil offers familiar gameplay with a modern twist on the classic games Snake and Space Invaders. It is a small game that I created with my brother over a timespan of two weeks to become more accustomed to some of Unreal Engine's newer features such as Niagara, Lumen and the Enhanced Input System, while also exploring the possibilities offered when creating 2D games using Paper2D.

In the game, the player takes control of a spaceship and has the task of defending a city from an incoming alien invasion for as long as possible. To help with this goal, the player can pick up several different types of weapon modules to upgrade their ship, each increasing the overall length of the ship and providing more firepower to repel the approaching threats. A weapon module is lost whenever it runs out of ammo or the player is hit, adding the additional objectives of dodging incoming attacks and maintaining the number of backup modules available. Once the player runs out of modules or the alien invaders break the protective shield and destroy the city, it's game over.

What was my role?

Due to the nature of the game and the main goal of it being a project created to explore a few of Unreal's newer components I worked on almost all parts of the game in some way or another, though my main programming tasks include a custom ability system (similar to the Gameplay Ability System), the associated abilities (e.g., Sprinting, Shooting, etc.), as well as the general input and controls for the player using Unreal's Enhanced Input System. In addition to that, I also created the different Niagara effects and custom materials for the game, all of which were designed to achieve a stylized appearance.