Okay, so, today I’m gonna talk about this little project I messed around with called “naoe shinobi.” It’s nothing too fancy, just a fun little dive into some, well, shinobi-esque stuff. Let’s get into it.
First off, I was just kinda bored and wanted to try something different. I’d been doing a lot of backend stuff lately, and I was itching to get my hands dirty with something more… interactive. So, I started brainstorming. What’s cool? What’s kinda edgy but still fun? And that’s how I landed on the whole ninja theme.
So, I started by sketching out a basic concept. Imagine a tiny little game, right? Where you play as a, you guessed it, a ninja. The main thing I wanted was some cool movement. Like, wall jumps, grappling hooks, the whole shebang. I spent a good chunk of time just fiddling with different physics engines, trying to get that feel just right. Ended up using Unity, because, well, it’s easy to prototype with.
Next up was the art. I’m no artist, let me tell you that. So, I went for a super stylized, low-poly look. Think PS1 era graphics, but with a modern twist. I modeled a basic ninja character in Blender, kept it super simple, and then just focused on the animation. Getting the character to move fluidly, to feel agile, that was the real challenge.
After that, I moved onto the gameplay mechanics. This is where things got interesting. I wanted the combat to be quick and brutal. No health bars, no complicated combos. Just one hit kills, stealth takedowns, that kinda thing. I spent a lot of time tweaking the AI of the enemies, making them feel challenging but not unfair. I really wanted the player to feel like a predator, lurking in the shadows.
The level design was also a big part of it. I wanted to create environments that encouraged creative movement. Lots of verticality, hidden pathways, secret areas. I even threw in some puzzles, just to break up the action a bit. Nothing too brain-melting, just simple stuff that required you to think outside the box a little.
Now, I’m not gonna lie, there were definitely some hurdles along the way. Getting the grappling hook to work reliably was a real pain. I spent hours debugging that thing, tweaking the physics, making sure it didn’t just fling the player into a wall. And then there was the issue of camera control. I wanted the camera to feel dynamic, to follow the action, but also to give the player a good view of their surroundings. It was a balancing act, for sure.
But, you know what? In the end, I actually managed to pull it off. It’s not perfect, by any means. There are still some rough edges, some bugs that need squashing. But it’s playable, it’s fun, and it’s something I can be proud of. It’s a testament to what you can accomplish when you just put your mind to something and start messing around.
So, yeah, that’s “naoe shinobi” in a nutshell. A fun little project that taught me a lot about game development, about problem solving, and about the importance of just having fun with what you’re doing.
Here’s a quick list of things I learned or used:
- Unity: For prototyping and game engine stuff.
- Blender: For creating the low-poly character and environment assets.
- C#: The main scripting language I used within Unity.
- Aseprite: For creating some basic pixel art textures.
- Lots of trial and error: Seriously, a lot of experimenting.
And that’s about it! Maybe I’ll polish it up someday and release it, but for now, it’s just a fun little personal project.
