Sink or Save

Technical Implements

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/LejieHub/Sink-or-Save

(Full scripts and additional details are available on GitHub)

Treasure Value System

Each treasure has a value. Coins are easier for the snake to steal, while trophies are more valuable. After the snake is defeated, any stolen treasure will drop. Only treasures that are picked up and placed back into the chest will count toward the final saved value. At the end, the game passes this data to the ending scene and assigns a title based on the total value.

Chest Interaction

A small invisible cube is placed near the chest lock. The player grabs it to open or close the lid.

Snake AI

The snake prefab has a target chest set for movement in the TreasureTheft script. An attach point at the mouth holds the stolen treasure. One trigger detects weapon hits, and another handles collisions. After stealing, the snake moves to an exit point, where it triggers a jump animation and escape logic.

Crab AI

Unlike the snake, the crab uses a detection range and only reacts when the player gets close. Once triggered, it jumps onto the player’s face. The player must grab and throw it away to remove it.

Monster Spawner

The monster spawner uses a list of spawn points and controls the spawn limit and interval between each monster. 

Water Level Controller

The WaterLevelController sets the game duration, water rise speed, and the water level limit. The rising speed increases based on the number of active leaks. During gameplay, it constantly checks for active leaks and whether the water has passed the limit or the timer has ended. 

Auto Release When Too Far

This script checks the distance between the player's hand and the grabbed object. If the player moves too far while grabbing the door or chest lid, it automatically releases the grab to prevent physics glitches.

Leak Manager

Each leak is managed by the LeakFixable script, which sets the repair time, plays sound effects, and checks for collision with the wooden plank. The LeakPointManager contains fixed spawn locations, but leaks appear at random times based on a set interval. (I later noticed it works a lot like the monster spawner, and they could’ve been merged into one system.)

Kill Zone Trigger

The ocean surface acts as a kill zone to destroy enemies that fall off the ship and prevent unnecessary objects from staying in the scene.

Challenges

Door Interaction
Grabbing the door handle made it move out of place and jitter. I fixed this by checking the hand’s distance and forcing release. The same fix was used for the chest lid.

Treasure Stealing by Snake
Making the snake carry treasure in its mouth was tricky. At first, the treasure didn’t appear in the right spot due to scale issues with the attach point.  I used the Physics Matrix to fix collider issues, so the treasure drops properly when the snake is destroyed and the player can pick it up.

Cartoon Water Shader
The ocean shader looked fine in the Unity simulator but appeared broken in the VR build. I plan to replace it with a simpler shader.

Asset List