Rogue Nebula

OVERVIEW

// METRICS

Links: Itch.io GitHub
Engine: Unity
Platforms: Web

Developed during the summer session of the Video Game Development Club, Rogue Nebula challenges players to survive endless waves of enemies while aiming for a high score.

Heavily inspired by classic arcade titles like Galaga, Defender (1981), and Space Invaders, the game features a scrolling 3D environment, reactive UI, vibrant special effects, and diverse enemy behaviors. Play it in the browser on itch.io.

TECHNICAL FEATURES

Gameplay

The player begins by entering their name for a leaderboard entry; if a name is not selected, they are labeled "anonymous." When start is pressed, the player is thrust into battle immediately as endless waves of enemies barrage the screen. To survive, players must dodge incoming projectiles and retaliate with the weapons in their arsenal. To aid survival, players can use special abilities and select a wide array of weapons.

Every eight waves, the difficulty increases, with the hardest level starting after wave sixteen. Enemies continue to scale with the difficulty, keeping the game a challenging and rewarding bullet-hell experience. High scores are displayed for other players who open the game.

High Score System

The high score persists across playthroughs using Unity's Scriptable Object system and a JSON save format.

Player Abilities

The player is given a small set of unique abilities. Players can use an "Evade" ability, providing brief invulnerability and extra speed, and the "Bubble Shield," granting extended invulnerability. Each ability has a cooldown timer displayed on the HUD that communicates when abilities will be available again.

Enemy Variety

The game includes four enemy types: a basic enemy that flies back and forth, shooting periodically; radial enemies that fire bullets in all directions; bomber enemies that drop fused bombs; and homing enemies that track and shoot at the player's position.

Enemy Variants

Each enemy type has its own movement and attack patterns, plus variants that increase attack speed, movement speed, health, and fire rate as the difficulty of the game changes.

Dynamic Wave System

The game reacts to the player's wave count. Every ten waves, new enemies are introduced, and more challenging variants of basic enemies appear.

Particle System and Shaders

The game incorporates arcade-inspired hit and explosion particles, with voxel-based 3D effects and dynamic hit effects that change color based on the damaged entity.