Posted October 29, 2022 by Monkey-Zebra Productions
Hey all! Conor here!
This post will mostly be detailing the movement and moveset of the mech, to really make you feel like you're in an underwater setting. Take a look!
Walking
Walking carries a lot of weight to it. The player is after all a big mech so it takes a bit to start up and slow down. The underwater setting really also makes the movement a bit stodgy too. Having a bit of clunk to movement in horror games, I feel, is needed to make the player just that extra bit panicky when the character is a bit too restricted in what they do. The mech is also in two parts, with the upper and lower bodies acting separately.
Jumping
Floaty as heck to reflect the "low gravity" of the deep sea. We even implemented a bit of coyote time for our jumps which was really cool to see working.
Dashing
One of the upgrades the player can unlock during their journey under the sea. It allows for a burst movement option to escape from danger. Use wisely as the cooldown is fairly long.
Melee Attack
A slow but powerful punch that can instantly obliterate enemies. Be forewarned, it drains to use. Can be upgraded to an AOE slam attack once the player finds it.
Grapple Module
The first upgrade the player gets. A projectile that can latch onto objects that the player can use to either throw away into the blue abyss or towards an enemy. An early upgrade to the hook is one that lets you zip onto grapple points for extra exploration.
Jetpack
What game would be complete without a jetpack? The final movement upgrade in the game allows the player to take to the skies, or I guess the surface. Kinda? Semantics don't matter. What does is the ability to go back through previous areas to find hidden health and armor upgrades the player may have missed/couldn't get to the first time around.
The team has been working hard as hell these past few weeks and our prototype is shaping up nicely. Jason is typing furiously on the GDD and has an enemy model nearly done, Jack has implemented weapon switching as well as implementing some great AI, Kayne is getting on well with texturing the mech and I'm learning all about lighting and shaders because holy hell is that important for our game.
Next week, we hope to get all that done and ready for a concept presentation when we come back from reading week. If all things go right we'll also have some combat interactions to show off!
See you soon!
-Conor