Gone Alone

It was a challenging yet rewarding experience for me during the competition. We were given 30 days to develop a game related to COVID-19, and I decided to create a first-person shooter game to combat the virus worldwide. I began by modeling the island and the player's home in the middle of the ocean. However, I had to pause the project for 20 days due to other commitments.

Upon receiving a notification from Angel Hack, I resumed work with renewed focus. I searched for free assets to control the game mechanics and found a Unity default FPS template, which I implemented into the game. The most challenging aspect was modeling the entire 3km*2km island from scratch and creating a unique player house in the middle of the ocean. My emphasis was on the visual appeal of the game, striving to make it top-notch.

With only one day left, I had to choose the Unity default template for my project as I had limited time to develop my own controller. The last two days were hectic, balancing work on the game with returning to college and dealing with a messy room that had been closed for seven months. Despite the challenges, I managed to submit the fully playable game by the deadline extension, and to my delight, it was selected in the top 5 for the live judging round.

Excitement filled me as I prepared for the live judging round, confident that my game was superior to others. The presentation went well, and I was certain of a top-three position. However, to my surprise, our name was not among the winners. It was a valuable lesson not to get overly excited before the competition concludes.

Reflecting on the judging process, I couldn't help but feel that it may have been biased towards the name of the game. I named it "Gone Alone" to avoid the association with COVID, as I believed that people wouldn't be inclined to play a game with a COVID-related title. When I contacted the organizers for feedback, they mentioned the use of the default FPS Unity template and the unfavorable perception of "Corona bots."

Despite the disappointment, I learned not to underestimate the importance of every detail in a competition, including the game's name. Moving forward, I will keep refining my skills and participating in such events, taking the experience as a positive step in my journey.