THIS ARTICLE IS A WORK IN PROGRESS

This project started as a desire to create a largescale destructive environment in the same vein as the Sandlot games (Earth Defense Force, Robotic Alchemic Drive).

I prototyped a basic framework for destructible objects in 2012, and began expanding on it out of curiosity as to how far I could push the controlled chaos. The game grew a surprisingly full state of features despite never really leaving the status of experimental prototype.

The whole thing is a mess, but you can knock down buildings and turn people into plant-zombies.

Tech -

- Environment destruction and LOD
Building destruction was handled through a hierarchy of mesh LOD's and modular subsections. Child hierarchies of the destroyed meshes were deactivated until enabled by a collision with the parent.

- Basic AI + Pathfinding
AI with a basic behavior system and three "modes": pedestrian, ground offensive, and airborn offensive. 

- VFX
Missile behavior logic, combination VFX (particles, meshes and animations) for larger effects like the mushroom cloud.

- Object-pooling system
There's a performance impact when mass-instantiating/destroying gameObjects, so a better resource management solution was necessary if the game was to be convincingly full of people.
(EXPLAIN POOLING SYSTEMS HERE)
I created a system to store and manage up to 200 AI units during gameplay. Normally this would be handled through arrays, however my system predated Playmaker Array support and was done instead through 200 dedicated object variables which were activated, deactivated, and transported throughout the environment as needed.
The system managed 100 pedestrians\civillians, 50 ground troops, 35 armored vehicles, 10 air-support vehicles, and 5 "boss" type opponents.

Design -

Wanting a stationary player-character for a future VR experience, the giant monster plant became the avatar for the experience. Modes of interaction revolve around long-range offenses and indirect locomotion (teleporting, etc). 

Gameplay Mechanics
TBD

Future: I've always wanted to make the city procedurally generated, as well as give the buildings and other objects randomized material variety, finish implementing traffic, and a few other things.

Prototypes-

Notes:
- Each link leads to the playable build.
- These builds are downloadable or require the Unity Web Player browser plugin.
- PRESS ESC TO SKIP ANNOYING LONG INTRO

Controls:
This game was designed for use with the keyboard and mouse.

Left Click - Action / Select Action
Right Click+Drag - Move Camera
Number Keys 1-7 - Select Action
Esc - Pause
Ctrl+1-3 - DEBUG Add Resources