BLOG ENTRY 17 - 12.21.2020

There has been little progress due to the holidays coming up but there is some good stuff. I’ve begun the process of the cover system. To make it clear, and In case I forget, the system will require 4 components. The first being a line trace coming out from the player. one being a Spline that the player will attach to so they can walk next to cover. Box volumes to set the player in low and high cover so animations can transition properly. and Vertical line traces coming from the top down a set distance from the player to check what kind of actions they can take, like vaulting or yanking an enemy.

Due to the fact that my productivity on the game has been very low lately I have only managed to set up the spline and test out the spline points. It’s rough but it looks promising. I’ve already checked out a couple of tutorials on how to attach the player to the spline movement, so that’s the next step.

I’m also retooling how some of the skills are going to work on paper before I continue making the ability system. There are just some things in the games design that I need to readjust to more modern mechanics. Given that this is mainly an ARPG in the style of diablo, the resource based skill system feels dated and it would probably end up being a detriment to the game, as currently testing it out with just cooldowns it feels great, I’m not sure if adding a whole class defining resource like diablo 3 would actually make the game more tactical, or if it would become something that just kills the players groove.

So that’s some on paper design stuff that needs to be updated before I continue working on those skills. the plasma charge itself has changed like 4 times from paper to current iteration, and it’s current form is still really fun to use. So I’m guessing there’s things like that we need to look into.

Another thing I want to look into is how we’re going to work out the individual weapon abilities. We’re being conservative with designing only 10 weapons per faction, but that’s still 40 individual weapon designs that need to be well… designed. We already have a faction specific weapon behavior. as well as specific elements tied to each faction. We have a general idea of the weapon archetypes for each faction as well. who uses burst, who uses charged up weapons, precision weapons. etc. but playing games like gears of war and borderlands really gets my mind going on what I’m looking for in this game. So there’s a lot to work with but first we have to narrow down what is doable in a top down shooter. Ruiner is a great example of how weapon variety can be used in a top down game, I very much like the feel of their weapons. The difference for us is that our weapons are permanent, so reload times, ammo, alternate fire are all new areas that we have to venture in.

Hopefully the next update I will be able to show off some of that in practice. but for now I’m going to take a couple of weeks off as it’s 3 days for x-mas and I’ve got a lot of cooking to do. I will try to be back by January to give some kind of update, in the meantime I’m going to play the new Stardew Valley Update 1.5.

Happy Holidays and I hope 2021 treats us all a little bit kinder.

-Sometimes taking some time off can be more productive in the long run-

Daniel “Freaky” Aguilar

Game Designer

Plasmapunk Studios

Winter Weeks Off