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Semester 3 Design Documentation: Part 2

6th July 2025

My idea for my new game is a 2.5D game in which the player climbs a tower by completing a floor at a time, running around the circumference until they find a path up to the next floor. The floors could consist of enemies to fight, puzzles to solve platforming challenges to traverse.

I began exploration into this idea by experimenting with making a character move around the circumference of circular plane using horizontal input. There were a few complicated tasks involved with this mechanic:
  • The camera must always face the centre
  • The player must rotate with to always face sideways (perpendicular to the radius)
  • Centrifugal force "pushes" the character outward as they run in a circle, so it must be cancelled out
  • Unreal's built-in jump mechanic conserves momentum, making the character move in the straight line when they jump instead of in the circular motion
After solving these complications, I had a player that runs in a circle around the circumference of a cylindrical plane, with the camera continuously focusing on them.




11th July 2025

I have made a simple combat system for the game. The player can perform a string of 4 attacks to fight enemies, who lose health when hit. They can also dodge roll (which will in the future let them avoid damage).



12th July 2025

I have improved the combat system. Visually at first, as I added sword slash effect for the player and enemies. Enemies have orange/red attacks to indicate danger so the player should be avoiding them. The player has light blue attacks so they don't confuse them on the screen if many attacks were happening at once. 


The player can also now take damage, which is displayed by their health bar. They are given a brief period of invulnerability after taking damage. They can also dodge attacks if they roll at the right time.


I took inspiration from the dodge roll in Dead Cells, which creates a trail behind the player as they roll and created my own version.



I have created a state tree to control enemies' actions. They chase the player when within a certain range, calculating clockwise or anticlockwise based on each character's respective direction from the centre. Once within melee range, they execute an attack. They will keep attacking if in range but stop and approach again if the player moves away.



13th July 2025

I made a second type of enemy that fires projectiles at the player. This enemy uses a child class of the main enemy, using different animations and spawns an arrow instead of executing a melee attack. The enemy AI search distance and attack range have been altered to account for this. 



14th July 2025

I improved the visual feedback for the player when their character is damaged by adding a red vignette, camera shake, a reaction animation, and a blood spurt particle effect. 



17th July 2025

I added the capability for player death when they reach 0 health, applying a ragdoll effect to the character.


I have also added spikes that damage the player when touched. They also contain a piece of code that orients them in the direction of the centre of the tower, to make them appear face on to the player.



18th July 2025

Enemies now drop coins when killed, adding to the player's coin total. There could be a shop at some point in the game for the player to spend their money on weapons an upgrades.


The player can block attacks from the front if they hold the shield button. I intend to add a parry system requiring good timing and a block meter, allowing the player to only block for a limited time.



20th July 2025

I added a mantle mechanic to the game, creating the opportunity for more interesting platforming and parkour gameplay.


I created an obstacle for the player to roll under. To implement this, I added a check at the end of a dodge roll to see if the player has room to stand. If not, they continue rolling until they can. 



22nd July 2025

I added new types of enemies. Firstly, a sorcerer, who summons fireballs to shoot at the player. Also, a cannoneer who fires grenades at the player.


Since enemies can throw grenades, I gave the player an ability to so too. This could be in an item slot on a cooldown, or a one-use item they can pick up.



24th July 2025

I have created a level to demonstrate gameplay. It contains an introduction to the controls for platforming and combat.


I added an axe trap that swings back and forth, damaging the player on a hit.


I created an axe weapon for the player to use, as experimentation into giving the player choice of different weapons to use, each with different stats. The axe swings slower than the standard sword but does more damage on each swing. To facilitate the changing weapons in game, I have implemented a shopping system, allowing the player to use their coins to purchase items. This could be upgrades, weapons, health restoration, etc... 
I intend to add better visual feedback, such as a button prompt to buy the item, a red flash if the player does not have sufficient money, and a particle effect when they pick up the item. 



25th July 2025

I created a visual for the cooldowns on the player's abilities. When an ability is on cooldown, its image is partially dulled and the ability can be used once it is fully visible again. Perhaps there could be an extra visual cue once the cooldown has completed.


I also added a visual prompt for the player when they are able to interact with something in the environment, inspired again by the game Dead Cells.



29th July 2025

I implemented the capability for abilities to be item pickups as well as weapons. The player can pick up an ability that replaces their currently equipped one.



30th July 2025

One of the abilities the player can have is a health potion on a long cooldown, restoring a portion of their health.


Another ability is the force push. Push all enemies around the player away.



31st July 2025

I created a locked door system, in which the player must first obtain a key before they can open it. This could be more visual for the player. For example, they could be told they need a key if they try to open a locked door. There could also be a visual effect involving the key when  door is unlocked.



3rd August 2025

I created a lift system for the player to use to navigate levels more easily if they were to have more verticality. They can use the control stick to move up and down, or the interact button on an empty lift platform to call the lift.


4th August 2025

Feeling that the combat was a bit plain and lacking in visual quality to contribute to player feel, I did some research into what makes combat in some existing games so satisfying. The main game I looked at was Super Smash Bros Ultimate, as it is a game that emphasises big, high-damaging hits using multiple effective visuals. One technique that the game uses very liberally is hitstop. This is the effect of both the initiator and the victim of an attack stopping for a fraction of a second as the hit lands, emphasising the power of the collision.


There other effects I added are: 
  • Sound effects of a sword "swoosh" and an impact
  • Hit flash, to make the enemy flash briefly when hit
  • A more visually appealing hit reaction animation
  • A red particle effect to indicate a hit
  • Hitstop that scales with attack damage (the last hit of a combo stops for longer)
  • More knockback as an enemy dies
  • Camera shake
  • A reactive healthbar that shows how much damage was done before decreasing
Before:

After:


6th August 2025

I have added an extra jump pickup that allows the player to jump one more time in the air. I based this on a similar mechanic in the game Celeste.




7th August 2025

I made a treasure chest that the player can open to gain coins. This is so I can make levels that reward exploration and puzzle solving. 



8th August 2025

I took inspiration from popular platforming games such as Rayman and the Cave to improve my game's visuals. These games have interesting environments or characters in the foreground to create a sense of depth in the level without distracting the player too much. To fit with the current sci-fi aesthetic of my game, I have added surveillance drones that fly around the outside of the tower. 

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/8UzRNKTXOjc/maxresdefault.jpg

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/A18mf-5CdQL.png


I have added an informative visual element to the player's coin count to show how much money has been subtracted from their total when they buy something. 


Here is the first full level of the new format. There is now verticality to the level, making it longer and more interesting to the player. 



21st August 2025

I have spent the past two weeks creating a boss combat for the end of the level. When the player enters the arena, the combat begins. In the first phase, the boss fires three lasers at the player, then charges to the other side, damaging the player on collision. The boss is now stunned for a few seconds, and the player has the opportunity to attack. If the boss's health bar is reduced to 0, they regenerate back to full health for phase 2. The boss now has a grenade launch ability as well as the laser firing. The boss charges at the end of the phase, again giving the player the chance to strike. This puts the boss in the third and final phase, in which they have three charges at the end instead of one. If the player reduces the boss' health to 0 once more, they will win the fight.


I also added enemy idle actions, so they walk around on their own until the player comes to within their line of sight. This adds an extra level of immersion as enemies would not typically be standing still waiting for the player to show up.


22nd August 2025

Here is the finished prototype of the game. It is in two videos because of Blogger's file size limit.




 



























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