This case shares GIANTY journey creating a TPS game prototype in Unity. This idea began as a simple question inside our team: What if a shooter was built around defense instead of offense? We were curious whether reflecting, blocking, and countering attacks could carry the same thrill as pulling the trigger.
From that question grew a journey: sketching out mechanics on paper, building in Unity, and gradually shaping a TPS game prototype that turned theory into something playable in 2.5 months to test that new gameplay idea.
This TPS project is in the prototype stage, focused on testing our ideas. We’re exploring whether defense-driven gameplay can feel as exciting as offense before moving into full development.
TPS Game Prototype: Overview
A TPS game prototype where players clear stages by reflecting, countering, and absorbing enemy projectiles. Every encounter is a tactical puzzle, encouraging players to manipulate enemy fire to progress
- Genre: Third-person shooter
- Platform: PC (keyboard + mouse)
- Number of players: 1
- Engine: Unity
- Theme: Sci-fi
- Goal: Deliver an engaging, visually appealing, and functional TPS game demo that highlights core gameplay mechanics and design elements.
Challenges
- Balancing Equipment: Preventing players from relying on one shield type. Cooldowns, stamina, and overheating mechanics were needed to enforce variety.
- Pacing the Learning Curve: Avoid overwhelming players too early. The learning curve needed to feel fair and fun.
- Environmental: Complex map elements risked overextending the prototype timeline.
- Camera & Animations: Third-person perspective gave better combat readability but demanded careful animation and visibility design. Maintaining responsive controls and camera in TPS mode so shields felt natural.
- Workload Control: With only 2 months, the scope had to be limited to one polished stage.
Player Experience
- Start with a single defensive tool in a tutorial that teaches its mechanics.
- Unlock more shields and abilities gradually through exploration, miniboss rewards, and hidden rewards.
- Gameplay difficulty ramps gradually. Each new enemy type is a lesson in how to apply different defensive mechanics.
- Player performance can be measured by time taken per stage, exploration %, or damage received – allowing for adaptive difficulty.
- Map design includes elevators, sci-fi doors, vertical fans, and multi-level layouts to keep movement varied and engaging.
Gameplay
Core Idea
Defense is the strongest offense. The player survives by countering and redirecting enemy attacks instead of charging in with pure firepower.
In-game Elements
Equipment:
- Kinetic Shield: Blocks and holds kinetic energy (bullets, grenades, physical objects). Can discharge all stored energy as multiple equal projectiles, or release it in one powerful counter.
- Electrical Shield: Absorbs electrical currents (lightning bolts, electric arcs, tasers). It can discharge energy either across a wide area or in a focused blast.
- Photonic Shield: Reflects directional photonic energy like lasers. It can reflect beams instantly or redirect surrounding light in one direction.
Enemies: Enemies come in 5 types, including: Thug, Mercenary, Shock Trooper, Laser Sniper, and Brute. Depending on each type, they attack differently. They also take different types of damage from different types of energy.
Map Elements: Stairs, elevators, sci-fi doors, large fans for verticality, and hidden areas for exploration.
Scope of work
- Development: Built the game prototype in Unity for PC, ensuring smooth mouse and keyboard support.
- Mechanics Design: Developed physics-based shield gameplay.
- Map Creation: Designed a single interactive map with elevators, fans, and ladders. Balanced item pickups, enemy placements, and events for coding efficiency.
- Boss Encounter: Designed boss movement and attack patterns that forced the use of all shields. Implemented logic for post-defeat outcomes.
- Game Demo Setup: Optimized so the demo was playable under 15 minutes (10 minutes without enemies).
- Animation Implementation: Created and integrated shield animations and interactions.
- Testing: Validated shield physics, traversal, boss fights, and animations for consistency.
What GIANTY Delivered
- A playable TPS game prototype proving that defense mechanics can drive engaging gameplay.
- Smooth character movement: walk, sprint, crouch, jump.
- Distinct enemy that forced players to use the right defense at the right time.
- A sci-fi stage with interactive elements, vertical design, and hidden upgrades.
- A demo video showing full gameplay: player movement, shield mechanics, enemy counters, and atmospheric environment.
Watch our game prototype demo trailer here:
Conclusion
This Unity game prototype was more than an experiment. It showed GIANTY’s ability to take an idea, test it quickly, and deliver a polished proof-of-concept. By prototyping the new ideas, we found that defense can be just as exciting as offense.
At GIANTY, prototyping is about more than making a demo, but it’s also about exploring new ways to play.
Ready to explore your own prototype idea? Get in touch with GIANTY to turn your concept into a playable reality.
