Last Dune Runner

Last Dune Runner is a project I started in 2015 using Unity. Obviously inspired by Missile Command and with a bit of influence from modern rouge-likes and a multi-perspective canvas from games such as Papers Please. My main objectives with this game was to incorporate more modern stylings onto the classic missile command gameplay with randomness taken from rouge-likes of the time in the form of periodic random upgrades, and a more fleshed-out context and visuals.


Also part of the project was to incorporate some form of leaderboard which would be displayed to the player in a dynamic manner. In this game the score for the leaderboard was the distance the player traveled in the bottom canvas before losing the game. When the game loads, it pulls the top 10 global scores, as well as 100 random scores from the leaderboard. The player would see these scores displayed in the context canvas as the destroyed vehicles in the background, showing others attempts. It also added to the in-game set-dressing showing that the battle has been on-going for a long time and destruction from the battle is already all around from the start. So anyone playing can see their score passing the scores of others as they progressed. After a game their score would be submitted to a database hosted here.

Originally the screen was divided into three separate canvases. The main two being similar to the final organization seen in the game-play above and below. The third canvas that was eventually scrapped and combined with the main canvas was that of the internal-view of the tank the player controls to give some connection to the crew. In the final version the context granted by this was better severed by brief cutscene opening of the crew walking through the moon base and boarding the tank, as well as the re-imagining of the main canvas from an external, 3rd person view of the action to, in the final version, a stylization of the display as though the player is looking at the main targeting screen inside the tank themselves. This was also demonstrated to the player by showing a dusty screen being wiped down while display the boot-up splash screens

Here is some even earlier footage, before the switch to a portrait style display