A Journey Toward Building a Unity Game Using Q
Our Journey in developing a game for the first time
Published Jan 15, 2025
Building a game is always a journey—one filled with excitement, experimentation, and plenty of problem-solving. What started as a simple idea to create a Tetris game quickly evolved into something unexpected: a flying Tetris game set in space, where the ship itself is a Tetris piece firing other Tetris pieces at asteroids. Here’s the story of how we built this game, the challenges we faced, and how AI became an indispensable partner in its development.
It all started with a classic idea: “Let’s build a Tetris game!”
We put together a basic Tetris clone with just a few prompts. It was simple, functional, and nostalgic, but then we asked ourselves: “What’s next?”
The idea struck: “Let’s take Tetris into space!” Instead of stacking blocks on a grid, we envisioned players flying a Tetris-shaped ship in a vast asteroid field.
We imagined the game to be more about parking Tetris pieces in space, with a sense of adventure—a gameplay loop that included enemies, exploration, and exciting challenges.
We felt limitless in our ambitions and, with the support of Amazon Q, we believed anything was possible. Ultimately, we decided to use Unity to bring our vision to life.
To bring our idea to life, we started with some rough sketches and brainstorming sessions. Our first concern was imagining how the game environment would look and feel in space. As newcomers, even visualizing this concept felt challenging. We asked ourselves how to fly Tetris pieces in space, more importantly, how to communicate our vision to Amazon Q. These drawings eventually outlined the game environment.
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To our surprise, setting up the game environment in Unity turned out to be relatively simple. By implementing a skybox and a straightforward script to control the Tetris piece, everything started coming together smoothly, fueling our excitement for the project.
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The real challenge came when we tried to implement the platform where the player Tetris piece would park or complete its task. Here’s how the process unfolded:
- Initial Idea: Platforms would be randomly constructed using other Tetris pieces, with each platform featuring a single configuration for the player's piece to fit into—like completing a line in classic Tetris.
- Execution Issues: We struggled to clearly instruct Amazon Q on how to generate these platforms dynamically.
- Visualization Problems: Visualizing the Tetris platforms in 3D proved difficult, leaving us with randomly shaped pieces that lacked cohesion.
- Gameplay Challenges: The flying script made navigation around these platforms frustrating and clunky, further complicating the gameplay experience.
Ultimately, this phase highlighted the complexities of designing a seamless game environment and the need for clearer conceptualization and execution.
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We reimagined the problem: what if we created a large cube with a cutout shaped like a Tetris piece, and the player’s goal was simply to fit the ship into it? Sounds simple, right? But as beginners, we overthought everything. We started envisioning platforms that would be dynamically generated using small cubes, each with a random cutout designed to fit the player’s piece.
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This added complexity made the process overwhelming, and we quickly realized it wasn’t as straightforward as we had hoped. as such It's safe to say this approach was challenging for us. At one point, even Q suggested, "Why not just create a few models in Blender with predefined cutouts? I could then write a simple script to display them randomly."
After countless iterations and experiments, with the time ticking we found ourselves saying: “Let’s simplify this. What if we just shoot Tetris pieces into asteroids?”
That became the core gameplay loop:
- Pilot your Tetris ship.
- Shoot other Tetris pieces at incoming asteroids.
- Watch the explosions and rack up your score.
that what ended up being the game we submit for this challenge which is Tetris Blaster
- Q as a Partner: From brainstorming ideas to debugging scripts, Q became an integral part of our development process. However, we learned that Q alone couldn’t build the game—it was the creative partnership between Q and human problem-solving that brought it to life.
- Iterate Quickly: Starting small and iterating allowed us to test ideas rapidly. What began as a simple Tetris clone evolved into a unique space shooter because we stayed flexible.
- Simplicity Wins: While it’s tempting to overcomplicate a game, focusing on a single, fun mechanic (shooting Tetris pieces at asteroids) made the experience more engaging.
Tetris Blaster is the result of a creative journey powered by curiosity, experimentation, and collaboration with Q. It’s not just a game; it’s a showcase of how classic ideas can be reimagined into something entirely new.
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