SPACE INVADER
(仮)
A flight shooter game featuring four-axis controls and aerial combat.
As a mecha pilot soaring over the city, you must fight off invading aerial forces.
Survive the onslaught, destroy the enemy, and protect the people below at all costs!
The sky burns. A threat descends.
You are the last defense.
Bullets fly. Steel roars. Hope survives — only if you do.
Gameplay
Inside the cockpit of your mech, you enter your launch code — 555.
Systems online. Weapons armed. You’re ready to take off.
Rise into the sky and unleash your arsenal against the approaching enemy.
Controls
Move: W / A / S / D
Rotate Mech: Q / E / Z / X
Ascend / Descend: Space / Ctrl
Aim: Mouse
Fire Weapons: Left Mouse / Right Mouse for different armaments
Design Goals
“Guardian Above the City” is a flight shooter game centered on the theme of defending a city from aerial threats.
This project emphasizes the freedom of aerial movement and directional control, allowing players to experience high-agency navigation across a three-dimensional urban airspace.
Design Challenges
Since the game is developed for keyboard and mouse on a desktop platform, all flight movement is mapped to the left-hand keyboard controls.
Given the relatively complex input scheme required for complete directional control, the game’s movement system presents a certain level of difficulty for new players.
To compensate for this and to maintain focus on the core design goal — exploration of player control mechanics — enemy strength and combat challenge have been intentionally reduced.
This allows players adequate space to learn, experiment with, and master the control system without being overwhelmed by combat pressure.
Design Process
After watching Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway’s Flash for the second time, I was once again deeply moved by the scene where Gawman pilots the Messer in a surprise night raid over Davao. The moment when the mobile suit breaks through the clouds and circles above the city, with the urban landscape sliding across the cockpit view in an unconventional orientation, became my dream scenario for an interactive experience. This inspired me to create a game based on that vision.
The core of the game design focuses on building a first-person controller that simulates the sensation of piloting a mecha. I set the following goals for the controller:
It must convey the weight and inertia of a giant mobile suit, resulting in deliberate, heavy movement.
The player’s camera movement is restricted to a 180-degree forward-facing field of view, limiting the range of mouse control.
The controller supports full-axis rotational movement, which compensates for the limited viewing angle and enhances immersion.
The urban environment is procedurally generated using Level Builder and a simple block-based prefab algorithm, allowing for the rapid creation of towering skyscrapers that pierce the clouds. Buildings are designed to be destructible, adding to the dynamic nature of the world.
Based on player testing, I observed a noticeable learning curve—about 50% of players had difficulty getting used to the controls. To address this, I designed the enemies with a lower level of difficulty: they spawn at fixed locations, do not move, and fire slow-moving projectiles. This allows players to learn the control system with minimal pressure while still experiencing the satisfaction of defeating enemies.