This was the first complete game I published. It was made in Unity and taught me the foundations of game design. It was made as a first year project for my Game Design BSc at Leeds Beckett University.
The Last Star is a top down shooter that requires accuracy and resource management. You have a fixed amount of energy you can use to shoot, and produce light. If you miss your shots, that energy is lost forever. Any energy spent in defeating an enemy can be recovered, but the enemies will also try to get that energy.
It is technically interesting in its light mechanic, and how that works in a 2D environment. This was done by manually adding normal maps to the tilemap, and manually placing shadow casters. The glitch effect was done using a custom shader that causes shadows to affect the transparency of a tile, instead of lightening or darkening them.
The Last Star can be played in browser on Itch.io
https://gongylus.itch.io/the-last-star
One droid, Trax, and The Sphere’s AI, Shepherd, wake to a miracle. A new star! A potential source of energy for trillions of years to come. But during their long sleep The Sphere has become infested by energy sapping parasites. No knowing where they came from. All they know is that if they want to survive, they must defeat the beasts to reintegrate The Sphere around The Last Star.
The Last Star is a top down shooter in a time when energy is scarce and finite. The battery that powers your weapons also powers your light, and you! The energy it takes to kill an enemy can be recovered from the energy orbs they drop on death. The only way energy is lost forever is if you miss your shots. Some enemies, such as the hideous Spawners, and bullet flinging Pupae, drop extra energy. But the beasts want that energy too, and if the Larvae absorb enough, they will evolve into Pupae.