Finalized Build/Source Code of MAVERICK, a game created by "Atlas Development" for the 2024 Borderlands Glitch Game Jam. Won Most Technical Award & 4th Place Overall. [
- What is MAVERICK? What were our Design Decisions?
- Team Composition [Atlas Development]
- What Files are Enclosed Here?
- Video Demonstration.
- SteamOS Integration.
- The Cutting Room Floor.
- Closing Thoughts.
- MAVERICK is a indie game created in under 48 hours for the Borderlands Glitch GameJam.
- It is unofficially based on the Top Gun movie released in 1986.
- MAVERICK is a 2D Shoot 'Em Up, inspired by arcade titles such as 1942 and Galaga.
- Since the prompt of this GameJam was to choose a movie or TV show from the late 80's through early 90's to base our game off of, we started by making a list as a team of what media we enjoyed from the era.
- We took team votes to decide which games were feasible given the time constraints/looked fun to create, then recursively struck bad ones off of our list.
- Some titles discussed, their potential genre, and the reason they were struck are:
| Title | Genre | Struck Reason |
|---|---|---|
| The Evil Dead (1981) | Survival Horror | Too many unique Assets to make something nice. |
| Indiana Jones & The Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) | 2D Platformer | Too many unique Assets to make something nice. |
| Karate Kid (1984) | Fighting Game | Too many unique animations, not our forte since were all in CS first, artists second. |
| Back to the Future (1985) | 2D Platformer/Driving Game | Lack of Interest. |
| [⭐] Top Gun (1986) | 2D Shooter/Bullet Hell | Won The Vote! |
| Space Balls (1987) | Ship Simulator | Too much code to make a fun simulation. |
| Forest Gump (1994) | Endless Runner | Lack of Interest. |
- Due to the rules stating that we were NOT allowed to directly adapt the movie, we chose to make our game a prequel to the original Top Gun Film, when the main character Pete “Maverick” Mitchell was still in Flight School, using a simulator.
- The name of the game, MAVERICK, was chosen to satirize the weird naming conventions that are tied to movie franchises like Rocky and Rambo. (Such as Rocky 6 being called “Rocky Balboa” and Rambo 4 being called just “Rambo”).
- This made our game fit neatly into Top Gun's Timeline, with it now being:
- MAVERICK -> Top Gun -> Top Gun: Maverick.
- Since MAVERICK takes design inspiration from retro arcade games, we decided to copy the way that those games are played nowadays.
- Emulated collections of arcade games are usually played on modern TVs or monitors, which are much wider than the arcades of old.
- We decided to add side art to border MAVERICK, pretending it was a real arcade game when it's in play.
- You may have seen this before in retro collections such as NAMCO Museum.
- In order to teach players who may have never played a 2D shooter, the first level was designed as a tutorial with basic graphics. The colors were purposely kept simple with vectors to tie into our plot of Maverick still being in Flight School.
- After the first level was completed, the difficulty was intended to increase and a more impressive presentation would follow.
- We were only aiming to create a 2-level vertical slice due to the strict time constraints.
- In order to ensure MAVERICK could be completed by everyone who played it on the show floor, we took a more “modern-day approach” to the game’s difficulty.
- While MAVERICK did draw a lot of inspiration from retro arcade-style shooters, we didn’t want it to feel like it was designed to take your quarters away, nor be overly frustrating to even a novice gamer.
- To accomplish this, we removed the concept of lives so that everyone could just play the game, and respawn after a short while when they died. We did NOT want anyone to reach a GAME OVER state early. (This concept is implemented in many modern games, such as Celeste or Super Mario Odyssey).
- We also increased the number of hit points the player ship could take for the sake of the demo. It was increased from 5 to 25, which in practice made it almost impossible for anyone to even see their ship blow up, especially since this was originally a tutorial stage.
- We had very few people die while playing MAVERICK on the show floor, and when they did, they respawned very quickly to keep the game fun.
- If MAVERICK were to be retooled, rebranded, and then released as a proper video game, the hit points would be decreased to a more “challenging” level.
This Project was completed with the assistance of four group members!
- Awarded [4th Place Overall] 🏆 & [Most Technical Award]. 🏆
Special Thanks to All Team Members!
William Dunlap - Main Code Lead: Major Game Logic, Level Loading, Enemy Behaviors, Smoke Trail System, & Bullet System.
Gilbert I. Guzman - Team Coordinator: Main Menu System, Game Logos/Emblems, Powerup Design, Code Assistance, SteamOS Support/Artwork, & Communicated with Staff.
Dante Lopez - Art Support: Assisted In Creation of all Assets, Consulted on Jet Design/Pixel Art for "realistic" level, & Side Playtester.
Jesus Torres - Lead Composer: Composed All Music, Created Ending Screen, Ending Artwork, & Main Playtester.
Zachary Wittmann - Art Lead/Gameplay Lead: Requested Assets from Members, Taught GIMP to Team, Code Assistance, Background Creation and Effects, & Powerup Design.
| Filename | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| MAVERICK_PlayableBuild | 🗂️ | Contains Precompiled files to play MAVERICK. See README to get large assets! |
| MAVERICK_SourceCode | 🗂️ | Contains main C# Source code for MAVERICK. See README for Google Drive Containing ALL Code! |
| ReadMeAssets | 🗂️ | Contains pictures, gifs, and other assets to make this README! |
| SpriteComparisonAssets | 🗂️ | Contains Sprites for "The Cutting Room Floor" Section. |
| SteamGridAssets | 🗂️ | Contains Steam Hero, Grid, Background, Logo, etc. to make MAVERICK fit in better on Steam. |
| README | .md | All of the text that you are currently reading. |
| gitattributes | .txt | Allowed for larger assets (Bigger than 20MB) to be stored on this Github Repo. |
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A video demonstrating a full run of the one level we completed for our vertical slice was recorded by Gilbert for this Github Repo.
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Since it is too big to upload here, it can be found at this link:
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Here's a fun photo of our demo station at the GameJam as well. :)
- Since Maverick was made playable on both standard computers and the Steam Deck, artwork was created so that it wouldn't look out of place next to other video games.
- It is a great source of pride that our team's game is able to sit next to games that were part of both our childhood and adulthood.
- If you would like to use these artworks for your copy of MAVERICK, please look at the SteamGridAssets folder. :)
- Due to the strict timing of the Game Jam, we were unable to fully complete our original vision of MAVERICK.
- MAVERICK ended up having to be a single level, with the second level being completely struck.
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The original intention was for the green line level (level 1) to act as a tutorial, teaching the player how the game worked since it was a "simulation".
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This tutorial took inspiration from military radar equiptment and games like Atari® BattleZone, which used simple lines and vectors for their visuals.
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After the first level was completed, a secondary level was to be loaded in with a more "realistic" artstyle and harder enemies. This level was to have fully animated water and sandy beaches, along with an additional, already completed but unused song.
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Below are some of the additional sprites we had created for it. Keep in mind, in our code every single sprite had the same hitbox regardless if it was in the tutorial or real version of the level.
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(Every asset we created had a tutorial and realistic version created, though they went unused.)
| Tutorial | Realistic | |
|---|---|---|
| Player Character [F-14 Tomcat] |  |
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| Enemy (Side-to-side) [MIG-28] |  |
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| Enemy (Stationary Missle) [MIG-29] |  |
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| Enemy (Divebombers) [YAK-141] |  |
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| Enemy Missle |  |
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- It was the team's intention that enemies that were destroyed would periodically drop powerups.
- These powerups were loosely based off the Top Gun© Movie, and included things like a pair of avaitor sunglasses and a volleyball.
- Their sprites and intended functions are shown below.
| Tutorial | Realistic | Function | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Volleyball |  |
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Summoned an additonal jet that would fly next to yours for double firepower. (Inspired by double ships in NAMCO's Galaga.) |
| Sunglasses |  |
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Created a shield that would be at the front of the player's jet. This shield could be used to block enemy fire for a short while. |
| Maverick Emblem |  |
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Made all shots fired by the player into missles for a short while. (Design based on powerups in Konami's Contra.) |
"Coding Maverick was great experience in using C#. I learned a lot as the main coder for the project, as Unity was refusing to compile for everyone else's computer on the first day of development. However, I still think sometimes, Why can a 2D Sprite flip the in the Z-Plane?" -William Dunlap
"Participating in this Game Jam was as fun as playing any videogame. All the collective knowledge our team had acquired was channeled into something creative, which was a refreshing change from our usual grind of homework. I found myself wearing many hats during this competition; coordinating our team, coding menus, and creating art assets; but because I had people I could trust, I never got too overwhelmed. Despite our short timeline, our collective sleep deprivation, and other life obligations popping up, our team's passion never faltered. Atlas Development turned caffeine into code, and I loved every minute of it." - Gilbert I. Guzman
"Our team had a decent amount of hiccups due to needing to learn how to use the Unity engine within the 48 hours given, but it was a fun experience. Each member of Atlas Development seems to be still willing to continue developing Maverick to get the extra levels done. I think that says a lot about our teams dedication." - Dante Lopez
"The Game Jam was a great experience. Collaborating with a team where everyone contributed with their best skills was amazing, especially when compared to a course project where everyone was at a different skill level. I was extremely satisfied with the final product despite the cuts that had to be made and I am interested in following up with the team to see what else we could make." - Jesus Torres
"Atlas Development made this Game Jam an extraordinary experience. It was great to gain valuable insight into what game development is like behind the scenes. Our team was able to make a fun, playable project within a few short days, which I think speaks to the hard work everyone put in. Despite the multitude of tasks I undertook to keep the team on track (Atlas Development was my name idea), the unwaviering passion of my team has motivated me to push further. I hope more of my teams in the future are like Atlas." - Zachary Wittmann
Thank You for reading about our little game. We hope it was entertaining!