Space Pillage is a unique combination of space shoot ’em up and RPG elements, that make for an interesting and diverse gameplay experience.
You play a member of a looting and pillaging space pirate crew, who survive the vast hostile reaches of space by destroying, salvaging and collecting valuable resources from the empire – a collective who has complete control over the galaxy, with far too much space crystal for their own good. Of course, the empire will protect it’s valuable resources with everything it has, and so your looting escapades will never be easy, as you fight waves of fighters sent to destroy you or guard the freighters that carry resources you and your crew seek.
I’ve spent quite a lot of time developing this game whenever I’ve had the spare time. I haven’t worked on in in roughly a year now though (as of this page’s creation date in 2016).
It’s all done in Unity 3D. I’ve done all the code and most of the graphics myself. I even ended up spinning some of the modular systems like the weapon/bullet pattern system and proportional controller missiles into their own Asset packages which I now sell on the Unity Asset store. I’ve never released the game, but perhaps one of these days I’ll find the time to generate some meaningful levels and package it all up.
I’ve tested builds for Windows, Mac, and Linux and was happy it ran well across all three platforms.
Some (but not all) features:
- Custom weapon and bullet pattern system
- Multiple levels and level building tool (XML backend that allows you to define custom/random enemies, weapons, items, level events, scenery/backdrops/space debris – all customisable by the custom XML level definitions)
- 2D homing missiles with proportional controller
- parallax scrolling system
- Character/boss interaction and dialogue system
- Ship module/weapon slot system
- Defensive modules like incoming missile defense, shields with hit effects
A big focus I had when developing this game was to make it as customisable / moddable as I could. The XML system is really flexible, and all you need to do to completely change a level (the way it looks, plays out, what enemies, weapons, graphics, etc) is modify the XML definitions in a text editor and re-launch the game.
Some more gameplay showing a boss character I was prototyping with a grappling hook style weapon that can immobilise you:
You can take a look at the IndieDB page I started a while ago (not updated recently) for more information, screenshots etc…