Project Overview
Shmup is a local multiplayer "shoot-em-up" that is designed to be fast-paced and fun to play or watch so that as many people can be drawn in as possible. 2-4 players can start a game with their match preferences in the menu.
I created this as a side project for a creative show held for final year games students rather than showcasing my portfolio - I was held back a year to work on my Dare to be Digital project, Pathos.
Design Objectives
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Fast gameplay that is fun to both play and watch.
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Pull mechanics from competitive shooters to create a balanced mix.
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Capture the "Fiero" feeling for every player, skilled or not.
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Scaled to be created in a short amount of time (2 weeks).
Platform:
Windows/PC
Engine:
Unity 5
Scripting Language:
C#
Pipeline:
Unity 5, Visual Studio 2015, Photoshop CC, Maya 2016
Project Completed:
June 2016
Team Size:
1
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Creative Show 2016
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Shmup was created in time to showcase at the event.
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Many visitors got to sit down with their friends and play the game.
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The Fiero effect was seen in each match - more effectively when a player defeated their friends.
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Allowed footage to be taken of the game in action.
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Weapon Design
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Gave me insight into how video game guns use many different parameters.
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These parameters allowed me to create different gun behaviours.
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Different gun behaviours then brought the level design together.
Balancing
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Only one map could be created in the time-frame - used as experiment.
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Players have equal opportunity to access each weapon type.
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But the experiment was to test if players would understand their starting positions for weapon placements:
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Top spawns have equal opportunities for mid-battle weapons.
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Bottom spawns have equal opportunities for start-of-battle weapons.
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Bazooka is just in range of top spawns to tempt top players to bring the battle to the middle after learning the map.
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The sniper rifle is placed with long sight-lines and the bazooka is given a wide battle area to lower risk of self-injury - the middle ramp balances the fact that it is quicker for top spawns to gain a power weapon.
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Top rifles are a risk/reward situation offering a better weapon with better line of sight of a narrow stretch (effectively a trap).
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Once players remembered the weapon placements, their tactics were in line with experiment predictions - can be seen in match recordings.
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Weapon spawn cooldowns are varied between types but are short enough to allow a lot of action in a short match.
Respawning
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Starting spawns are picked randomly for each player.
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Respawn points are then used randomly after a player dies.
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Starting and respawn points are placed in balanced positions from weapons.
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"Bad" respawn points are used when a player has died frequently without gaining any kills (only used in 'deathmatch') which puts them close to the power weapons.
Gamemodes
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Gamemodes allow me to offer different experiences in such a small game.
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'Deathmatch' works well for longer matches - winner is determined by most kills at the end of the match.
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'Elimination' works well for shorter matches - winner is determined by most lives left at the end of the match, if there is a draw then 'sudden death' begins.
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I allowed the timer to be customised for both gamemodes so that players can set their own challenge.
Interface Design
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Competitive play feeds a lot of information to the player but is accessed quickly with simple UI elements.
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Health, life, ammunition and kill values provide the important statistics.
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Each player has a personal timer for minimal eye movement.
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A kill-feed constantly keeps players up to date and each line of data is coloured so that the player will instantly know if it relates to them.
Narrative
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A World War 2 theme was added to the concept to help bring it to life.
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This gives each weapon an identity which then allows players to recognise a weapons characteristics by its silhouette.
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Due to time constraints the map could not be given an art pass - however, the UI, player character and weapons were able to be themed.
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All assets, with the exceptions of the player model and audio, were created by myself.
