CommonCore is the framework that has underpinned most of my games from 2019 onward. It’s an integrated set of libraries and assets that sits conceptually and in some cases logically between the Unity game engine and the game itself. Originally envisioned as a feature-rich FPS-RPG kit, it’s morphed over time into something more flexible as I started to explore different genres.
The genesis of what would become CommonCore began with the first iteration of Ascension III, as early as 2016 or 2017. The goals for that project were highly ambitious, and so were the initial goals for what was then known as ARES. After getting some basic stuff like overall code structure, save/load, and some basic convenience utilities working, the focus was mostly on the RPG and shooter building blocks for Ascension III. There were a few features added for other projects, perhaps most notably support for 2D facing sprites (think DOOM enemies), but it was mostly about Ascension III. That changed some time in 2020, when CommonCore finally hit sufficient maturity to just start building games on without thinking too much about how to make them work, and when I started moving on from Ascension III to other projects.
CommonCore has mostly powered one kind of game- first person shooter/brawler with maybe some RPG elements- but the variety is growing. There’s been a space shooter, a side scroller, an infinite runner, and a visual novel, with more different games planned for 2023 and onward!
CommonCore is open-source, dual-licensed under the MIT License and Creative Commons Attribution 3.0. However, I largely consider it a project for internal use, and I do not offer any support or take any feature requests. The testing and documentation is definitely not up to scratch, either. You’re welcome to use it, fork it, and learn from it, and I’d be interested to see what you make, but you’re on your own.