Background

When we started the project we were conflicted on what exactly we wanted the project to be. We wanted to make a FPS game with Sam originally wanting to make one about casting spells, but we both thought we could do something more interesting with the genre

Thesis

Big-budget first-person shooter games have gotten stagnant, stale and content with decades-old game design. While some smaller games have moved the genre forward, we plan to create a first-person shooter without any conventional weapons, forcing players to use their creativity and problem-solving to take out their opponents. It is created in the Unity engine and written in C#

Guiding design principals

The player needs to use the environment to take out their enemies

The player is given many movement tools to evade opponents

The player only has 1 health point, any damage taken will force them to restart

The first few seconds of a puzzle room the player is given a slow down in time to get a better look at the environment before everything becomes crazy fast

There should be many solutions to one problem, but not one solution to every problem

Levels are short and complex, they are meant to be replayed multiple times to find better solutions and get faster times

The player needs to use the environment to take out their enemies

Guiding design principals

Guiding design principals

The player needs to use the environment to take out their enemies

The player is given many movement tools to evade opponents

The player only has 1 health point, any damage taken will force them to restart

The first few seconds of a puzzle room the player is given a slow down in time to get a better look at the environment before everything becomes crazy fast

There should be many solutions to one problem, but not one solution to every problem

Levels are short and complex, they are meant to be replayed multiple times to find better solutions and get faster times

The player is given many movement tools to evade opponents

Guiding design principals

Guiding design principals

The player needs to use the environment to take out their enemies

The player is given many movement tools to evade opponents

The player only has 1 health point, any damage taken will force them to restart

The first few seconds of a puzzle room the player is given a slow down in time to get a better look at the environment before everything becomes crazy fast

There should be many solutions to one problem, but not one solution to every problem

Levels are short and complex, they are meant to be replayed multiple times to find better solutions and get faster times

The player only has 1 health point, any damage taken will force them to restart

Guiding design principals

Guiding design principals

The player needs to use the environment to take out their enemies

The player is given many movement tools to evade opponents

The player only has 1 health point, any damage taken will force them to restart

The first few seconds of a puzzle room the player is given a slow down in time to get a better look at the environment before everything becomes crazy fast

There should be many solutions to one problem, but not one solution to every problem

Levels are short and complex, they are meant to be replayed multiple times to find better solutions and get faster times

In the first few seconds of a puzzle room the player is given a slow down in time to get a better look at the environment before everything becomes crazy fast

Guiding design principals

Guiding design principals

The player needs to use the environment to take out their enemies

The player is given many movement tools to evade opponents

The player only has 1 health point, any damage taken will force them to restart

The first few seconds of a puzzle room the player is given a slow down in time to get a better look at the environment before everything becomes crazy fast

There should be many solutions to one problem, but not one solution to every problem

Levels are short and complex, they are meant to be replayed multiple times to find better solutions and get faster times

There should be many solutions to one problem, but not one solution to every problem

Guiding design principals

Guiding design principals

The player needs to use the environment to take out their enemies

The player is given many movement tools to evade opponents

The player only has 1 health point, any damage taken will force them to restart

The first few seconds of a puzzle room the player is given a slow down in time to get a better look at the environment before everything becomes crazy fast

There should be many solutions to one problem, but not one solution to every problem

Levels are short and complex, they are meant to be replayed multiple times to find better solutions and get faster times

Levels are short and complex, they are meant to be replayed multiple times to find better solutions and get faster times

Guiding design principals

Sketches Option 1

Compile all sketches in one slide (delete this)

Creating the game design document

Constraints

-No trad weapons

Inspirations

-Interesting game mechanics that encourage exploration, creativity & have a high skill ceiling

-exciting player movement

-clean visual design

-intentional scaffolding of new mechanics and game complexity to keep it exciting but not overwhelming

We were specifically inspired by the

Sketches Option 1

Compile all sketches in one slide (delete this)

Sketches Option 2

Compile all sketches in one slide (delete this)

Process Diagram

Prototypes Option 1

(delete this)

Combat loop

Demo

Next Steps

• Improve the gravity orb player launch
• Improve the grappling hook
• Add enemies
• Add conduction effects
• General refinements to the movement
• Start working on tutorial level

Thank You!

Project Statement

To create a puzzle game built around eliminating enemies but without any conventional weapons, not even wands or any magic. The player needs to interact with the environment, connecting different facets to create interesting combos that can take out their opponents.

Core Mechanics

Grappling Hook

Gravity Orb

Time Stop

Grappling hook mockup or cyberhook

tf2 rocket jump/momentum mod or similar puzzle game concept

[speed game] stat screen at the end with time, explain rewarding players for speed

Precedents

BOTW

Portal

Titanfall 2

For this game, I wanted to make the most fun movement possible. I'm trying to go about this by analyzing games with complex movement to figure out what makes them so rewarding. I think that the reason that people like fast movement is that it's a great avenue for mechanical skill expression and creativity. This is exacerbated in well designed games, where using fast movement and speedrunning allows you to complete levels in entirely unique ways.

Movement

The enemies are built around what they are and arent weak to. depending on the level, groups of enemies can be invunrable to fire, water, electricity, etc that will prevent the player from using a certain strategy every time

Enemy Design

Gameplay

• Add a wallrunning mechanic
• Tuning the grappling hook and changing the environment so that some objects can't be hooked
• Add the gravity orb
• Create an environment to showcase the puzzle mechanics

Next Steps