Lately I’ve been tinkering with a small first-person RPG prototype in Unity. It’s very old-school, inspired by games like Ultima Underworld and Daggerfall, the kind of games I could really get lost in as a kid.
The goal is to create a small vertical slice of the game, with a single dungeon level, a few enemies, and some basic RPG mechanics like combat, loot, inventory, and character stats.
After entering the dungeon, the player finds their first dagger and a couple of snakes. Combat is pretty basic for now, just a simple hit chance based on the player’s stats and the weapon’s accuracy, but it gets the job done for a prototype.
By far the inventory system has been the most complex part to implement, with drag-and-drop functionality, item stacking, and a simple crafting system. I’m using Unity’s new UI system for it, which has been fairly easy to work with… sort of.
The environments could definitely use some more love, they are very blocky for now, but that made it easy to block out the dungeon layout and focus on the gameplay mechanics first. I want to add more variety to the rooms, with different themes and traps, but for now it’s just a simple maze of corridors and a few larger rooms.