Light Chaser is a top-down shooting game where two alien creatures fire light waves to illuminate their surroundings and explore the scene. During their exploration process, they also need to locate and neutralize their enemies from the dark. Light is a kind of wave, so it can naturally bounce between walls. The light source you fired can also be retrieved for a faster reload. Utilize your light waves to expand your range of view and restrict your opponent's vision.
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| Role | System Designer, Programmer |
| Timeline | January 2017 |
| Tools Used | Unity, Photoshop, BFXR |
Key Activities
- Designed and implemented the rules around the "light wave", such as light bouncing and light retrieving
- Utilized and optimized sprite-based 2D lighting to deliver a dynamic sense of exploration and a thrill of the unknown with hundred of lights blended on screen
Download & Install Instructions
Currently, Light Chaser only support the Windows platform. Please visit Light Chaser's itcho.io page to download the latest version of the game: https://lykavin.itch.io/light-chaser.
After downloading the zip file and extracting it, connect two controllers to your PC and double-click LightChaser.exe to launch the game. Common controllers such as Dualshock 4, Xbox One Controllers are all supported. Visit this link to view all supported controllers: http://www.gallantgames.com/pages/incontrol-supported-controllers.
Interaction instructions
You can always click on the "help" button in the main menu to learn about all the basic controls for this game:
- Use the left joystick to move around.
- Use the right joystick to aim.
- Use the right trigger button (R2 on DualShock controllers, RT on Xbox controllers) to fire a light wave.
- While playing, press the "Option" button on DS4 / "Back" button on the Xbox 360 Controller / "Menu" button on the Xbox One Controller to return to the main menu.
- While playing, you can also press the "Esc" key on your keyboard to close the game directly.
Intentions
This game was initially created at Global Game Jam '17. The theme for that year's GGJ was "waves". Intrigued by real-time lighting at that time, I proposed the idea of player firing "light waves" at each other in a dark environment in our initial brainstorm. After some discussions, our team settled on this idea and started prototyping. After thinking deeper about the property of light waves, I introduced light bouncing to make illuminating the environment easier. The ability to retrieve the light source was also implemented to achieve an input pattern of "fire a light wave, follow the light path and retrieve the light source". These all add up to a sense of exploration with a natural rhythm in this game.
Later, I realized that the excitement from exploration will diminish as the player brightens every corner of the map. To solve this problem, we allowed a player's light wave to also darken his or her opponent's vision. This mechanic also helped us build a sense of thrill, as the player's range of view will be constantly transforming and the uncertainty about the opponent's position will be constant.