Projects · personal · 2024

Snowboarder Game (Unity)

A physics-based sidescrolling Unity game where the player controls a snowboarder through a level using rotation and speed boosts.

Role: Sole Developer
Period: 1–15 Jul 2024
Duration: 14 days
Status: Shipped
Category: personal

Gallery

Tech Stack

Unity 2022.3.34f1 C# Cinemachine

Overview

This project continues my game development journey and showcases a moving physics-based sprite on a sidescrolling platform. The aim is to complete the level without dying — the death condition is the player sprite’s head making contact with any surface. Rotation and speed boost controls allow the player to perform flips off the slopes.

Approach & Architecture

The game is built in Unity 2022.3.34f1 with C# scripting and Cinemachine for the camera.

Gameplay mechanics:

The goal is to complete the sidescrolling level without dying
There is currently no points system or way to compare progress between players
Level completion is determined by passing the green flag at the end of the level
The player controls the snowboarder by:
- Rotating the sprite in mid-air
- Boosting speed while on the ground
Higher speeds before a ledge produce longer air time and more flips — flips could form the basis of a future scoring system (e.g. points per flip completed)

Separate head collider: The snowboarder has two colliders — a body collider for general physics interaction with terrain, and a dedicated head collider. Only the head collider triggers the death sequence, making it possible to graze surfaces with the body without dying.

Development & Learning

This project was built following an online course that explained key Unity concepts and provided the base assets.

Build order:

Ground sprite and snow texture using Unity’s Sprite Shape tool to create organic terrain
Player sprite with movement mechanics — adjusting physics values for rotation and boost; added the separate head collider for the death condition
Death sequence and win sequence — both cause the scene to reload, returning the player to the start of the level
Environment sprites added for visual depth
Particle effects for three states: win, death, and touching the snow surface

Results

A complete, playable sidescrolling level with a working win and death sequence.
Physics-based movement — the player controls the snowboarder by rotating in mid-air and boosting speed on the ground.
Separate head collider that independently triggers the death sequence on impact.
Particle effects for win state, death state, and snow contact.
Cinemachine follow camera tracks the player smoothly through the level.

Reflection

Key Unity concepts covered in this project:

Sprite shapes — creating organic terrain (snow slopes) using Unity's Sprite Shape tool rather than flat tile-based geometry.

Edge colliders — applying physics boundaries to sprite shape terrain so the player character interacts naturally with the surface.

Cinemachine follow camera — attaching a camera that tracks the player automatically through the level without manual scripting.

Scene management — handling scene reloads on both the win and death events cleanly.

Particle effects — creating contextual visual feedback for different game events (win, death, snow contact).

Introduction to sound effects — hooking audio into game events for basic feedback.

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