SPOILER ALERT: We are detailing the opening and ending scenes, overall story, and providing some gameplay and enemy information in this devlog. If you do not want the background information to ruin your gameplay, do not proceed. 

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Zerg Rush is a short runner that was created in a week for a local game jam. We uploaded the game to Itch with the original gameplay and a few quality of life updates. Naturally there are still visual improvements that could be made, but we are quite happy with the way it turned out and do not plan to make any further changes.

The opening and ending scenes were created frame by frame in Aseprite and then implemented in Unity. The process was tedious and, since we prioritized the gameplay mechanics with our time constraints, the scenes are practical and straight to the point. Furthermore, we thought that using text dialogue would take away from the scenes (it’s weird to think of zerglings communicating in English), so we opted to communicate in character emotes and symbols in dialogue boxes. Unfortunately, since the scenes are short and there is no exposition, the story might pass too quickly for the player to follow. We detail those scenes below for those who are curious.

Opening scene: Terran marines have invaded and are attacking the Zerg hatchery. During this time, the zergling protagonist and his brother hatch from their egg. They are immediately aware of the danger and run behind a rock for cover. The marines notice the hatchlings running away and pursue them with gunfire. The zerglings don’t have time to communicate a plan and unfortunately react differently. They are separated as the protagonist runs one way, while his brother goes a different direction. The zergling does not have time to figure out what happened to his brother. All he can do is run and avoid the opposition coming his way. 

Gameplay & evolution: We decided to keep the runner simple and focused on the player avoiding the enemies rather than attacking them. With this, we were able to create a dynamic gameplay that incorporated an upgrade system that directs the player to evolve and gain different evasion tactics in order to advance further with every run. We thought it was fitting to the Starcraft theme to label the upgrades as “evolutions” and, after the zergling is defeated in a run, the player is taken to the evolution screen. The theme of this screen is our imagining of the inside of an evolution chamber combined with the green catalytic fluid seen in the spawning pool. The “fleshy” border and yellow icons are inspired by the Zerg user interface found in the first Starcraft game. The player can spend evolution points that were earned during their run to evolve their carapace (armor), wings (double jump), and ability to burrow. 

Enemies: There are four main enemies in this game, each producing a different threat to the player. The Terran marine is a basic infantry unit in an armored suit that fires projectiles. The Protoss zealot is a sprinting land unit that slices the zergling at close range. The scout is a Protoss air unit that performs a strafing run guaranteed to defeat an exposed zergling. The wraith is a Terran air unit that lingers with the player, continually firing lasers in order to stop them.

End scene: The zergling is able to run far enough to approach a hive. When he survives long enough, the “boss” is defeated by an off-screen attack from a Zerg spore colony. The zergling, now evolved with wings and a carapace, is reunited with his hatchling brother. He is in disbelief to see that he made the perilous journey when he could have effortlessly teleported through the Nydus canal with his brother.

Future plans: We do have ideas to expand the game with new levels/abilities, but it is not a priority for the time being as we have other projects that we are working on.

Thank you for your support.

Until next time,

LoneZ