A Unity Survival Game – Master's Thesis Project
Elder Wilds is a survival game built in Unity as part of my Master's thesis.
It combines exploration, resource gathering, crafting, and survival mechanics into a dynamic and immersive world.
Your goal: survive in the wild, build your base, hunt, gather, and defend yourself against the harsh environment and wild creatures.
- Player Movement with smooth controls
- Landscape Creation using Unity’s Terrain Tool
- Day & Night Cycle
- Water System – swimming & diving
- Tree Regrowth & environmental item drops
- Item Selection via raycasting
- Item Pickup & alerts with custom cursors
- Inventory System with UI + drag & drop
- Quick Slots & tool equipping
- Health, Food, & Hydration bars
- Consuming, Hovering, & Removing Items
- Crafting System for tools & items
- Campfire & Cooking System
- Chopping Trees for resources
- Base Building System to create shelters
- Hunting Rabbits for food
- Enemy & Wild Animals AI
- Creature/Enemy Spawner
- Player Death & Respawn System
- Storage System for managing items
- Looting Mechanic from the environment and creatures
- Music & Sound Effects for atmosphere
- Swimming/Diving Sounds
- Custom UI/UX Effects
- Main Menu & In-Game Menu
- Saving & Loading System
Here are more screenshots from the game world:
- Unity (C# scripting)
- Blender & Unity Terrain Tools for assets/environment
This project was developed as part of my Master’s thesis in Game Development, focusing on survival game mechanics and immersive gameplay systems.
Thesis Document: Read the Thesis
To ensure transparency in asset sourcing:
- 3D Models & Environment Assets → Obtained from the Unity Asset Store
- Music & Sound Effects → Licensed from Pixabay
- Inventory Item Icons → Generated using DALL·E