Cube Mayhem (Unreal Engine)
About
This game was created during the GameDev.TV game jam that lasted one month. The theme of this jam was "Time" and we could use any software, tools and assets as long as the assets were free. This game jam was a solo creation.
Introduction
As this was the first game jam I started from scratch with a project, I wanted to limit the amount of third-party content as best I could. I has just recently completed a course on twin stick shooters, and I wanted to incorporate what I learnt from that course into my own project.
Weapon Design
I wanted to create a game that was satisfying to play and satisfying to shoot. Once I created a basic movement system and basic enemy AI I worked on the gun. Originally, I wanted to have weapon pickups throughout the level however I decided to incorporate 3 basic weapons and add more if I had time at the end.
I needed to create weapons that were different enough where the user would not get confused on when to use them, so I decided to go to the extremes of fire rate, damage and delay. My First weapon would fire fast but do-little damage, the second weapon would fire modestly but have a high damage and a small slash zone. The last weapon would wipe the screen of all enemies but have an increased delay on use. To stop the user from just using the screen wipe aggressively I removed its ability to score points, it should just be used as a last resort.
Weapon Feedback
In order to increase satisfaction, weapon sounds and weapon feedback needed to align with the expectation of weapon style. Weapons need to create a sound on fire and on collision. Sounds and music was an area I had very little knowledge about, so I used third part assets. The screen clear weapon needed a charge up to emphasise the power of the weapon. All sounds needed to be distinct enough that the user could tell what weapon is fired just down to the sounds and the controller vibration.
Enemies
I struggled with the creation of enemy’s, I knew I needed variation and scaling in order to keep the user engaged so I decided to use a clock to designate enemy types and when they would spawn. The different colours have varying stats to encourage the user to approach them in a different way.
Finishing Touches
The final touch was to add particle systems. This was an area I was looking forward to, I find when done properly they can add so much to the game even though they are just purely visual. Adding particles to the enemy deaths gave the impact of the heavy weapons much more impact and meaning. The small shots caused the enemy to send particles in all directions while the heavy shots fired the particles in the directions of the bullet.