Rescue Racer

Rescue Racer was a third-year university project focused on accessibility in gaming. The brief was to create a small game inspired by the RNLI while considering how games can be made more accessible to different players.

For this project, I created a voice-controlled endless runner in Unity. My goal was to design a game that could be played entirely using voice commands, from navigating the menus to controlling the player during gameplay.

The game is based around controlling a rescue boat, avoiding obstacles, collecting rescue rings, and earning currency that can be spent on upgrades in the shop. As the player continues, the game gradually increases in speed and spawns more obstacles, creating a more challenging experience over time.

I began by deciding on the main accessibility goal: to create a game that could be played entirely through voice input. I then researched how voice control could be implemented in Unity and considered what type of game would work well with this input method.

I chose an endless runner style of game because the controls could be kept simple and clear. This made it a good fit for voice commands, as the player only needed to move in a limited number of directions while reacting to obstacles.

I first built the game using keyboard and mouse controls to make sure the core gameplay worked correctly. This included player movement, obstacle spawning, increasing speed over time, collectible rescue rings, currency, and shop upgrades.

Once the basic game was working, I began implementing the voice control system. Movement commands were designed around clear keywords, including standard directions such as “left” and “right,” as well as nautical terms such as “port” and “starboard.” This helped connect the controls to the rescue boat theme while also giving the player multiple ways to perform the same action.

The UI was more challenging to make fully voice-controlled. To solve this, I made sure every button was clearly labelled, allowing the player to activate menu options by saying the name of the button. This made the menus easier to understand and helped keep the voice input consistent across both gameplay and UI navigation.

After completing the project, I tested the game with a small group of friends using both keyboard and mouse controls, as well as the voice command system. During testing, I found that some voice commands were harder for the system to recognise depending on the player’s accent or pronunciation. To improve this, I adjusted some of the commands to use clearer and easier-to-pronounce words, making the controls more reliable and accessible.

Overall, this project helped me learn more about accessibility-focused design and gave me experience implementing an input system I had not worked with before. It also taught me the importance of designing mechanics and interfaces around the needs of the player, rather than adding accessibility features at the end.

Unity - Level Design

Visual Studio 2022 - Scripts