Inspired by Kerbal Space Program and wanting to create a simple rocket building game for my then 3 year old son, I created Rocket Constructor.
Rocket Constructor is a simple modular rocket building game I developed using for my son after noticing his enjoyment of the ‘Space’ theme. I created it with Unity.
To play, you start in the rocket construction phase on the ground. Drag and drop parts of the rocket to connect them together, ensuring that booster parts are also added.
I got quite into coding additional features at one point and started adding configurable rocket components.
For example you can change the amount of throttle that boosters have, change how much fuel they hold, and also set delay timers on them to get them to start up at different points.
This allows for configuring rocket stages.
I also added a coupling part which allows you to set a ‘detach’ timer. All parts connected to a coupling will be disconnected at the point the timer runs out. You can see how this works 5 seconds after the rocket launches in video above.
This was created about 2 or 3 years ago now and the game has been sitting in my project storage for a while now gathering dust. It could get many more features added and allow for some interesting game play mechanics if worked on further.
My son really enjoyed Rocket Constructor as a toddler. Surprisingly at 3 or 4 years old he was able to create fully symmetrical and functioning rockets that reached the start of space. He would enjoy playing on the PC using the mouse to interact with the basic UI. Later on I also created an Android build for a spare tablet that he would also play on.
The audio comes from freesound.org (CC0) and the sprite assets are from the kenney.nl space shooter sprite pack.