Guns! Guns! Guns! (and explosives)
Jun/095
Well, spent a large part of the day getting rid of virusses on my laptop so I didn’t get as much work done on One Man Army as I was intending to. But I still owe you guys a new post! After all, I had almost 80 hits yesterday- wow! Guess there’s lots of interest.
Guns! It’s a large part of what the game is about. Whenever I’m designing guns for the game, I keep a few things in mind. First and probably foremost: “Would i want to have this gun?” It’s important to me that the game is fun to play, and since shooting guns is such an important mechanic, I think it’s of utmost importance to have guns that are fun to use. Second, “Don’t I already have something like this? If so, is this still worth putting in the game?” Diversity seemed to be a great big deal for the early playtesters. If a lot of guns are alike, the gameplay goes stale rapidly. Lastly, “Can I do interesting things in level design if this gun brings a new mechanic?” perhaps not the question I’m most concerned with, but still a good one to think about. Especially now that I’m designing the actual levels, having puzzles that use special guns are lots more fun that the usual press-the-button-to-open-a-door or find-the-right-coloured-key. Of course, there have been a bunch of weapons I had cut from the game already, either because they didn’t bring anything new to the table or because they were just no fun.
Enough talk! Here’s some weapons (and pictures!)
Shoots bullet at a rather slow pace, but firing rate can be overridden by repeatedly pulling the trigger. Still doesn’t do damage for shit though. Good thing it has infinite ammo.
Has been standard issue for a while. Produces a nice stream of hot lead from the business end, but tends to run out of ammo quickly.
Shoots nails. Nails things to other things, mainly. Requires to be used in close proximity to be rendered effective since the nails don’t carry very far.
Might be a bit heavy for a person to carry, and is usually found mounted. Contrary to popular belief, the Gatling Gun does have limited ammunition. Not too accurate of a weapon, but the sheer amount of high-speed bullets compensates.
Put one on the floor! Stick one to the wall! Watch from a distance as your oblivious targets get blown to smithereens! Place them by standing next to a wall or crouching on the floor, and detonate them while standing.
These are not all by far, but if you have any suggestions or brainfarts, let me know in the comments!
Fuzzy baby seals,
~Brian
Meet the One Man Army
Jun/091
Well, I guess I owe everyone here an introduction to the biggest project in my pipeline- One Man Army. I’ll just give you guys a quick rundown of what I want it to be and what it already is.
One Man Army is an action-based platform shooter. Action based means that the game is all about the spectacle- shooting stuff, blowing things up, the works. If it goes boom or pow, it belongs. Platform means there’s acrobatics involved. And by that I mean double-jumps, wall-jumps and dropping down a hatch rattling a machine gun. Not the guys-in-tights jumping around in a circus. And lastly, shooter means there’s guys with guns and you shoot them. Simple enough, right?
As the player, you take on the role of a nameless Soviet super soldier who ended up being cloned multiple times. In all secrecy, they unleash you upon whatever faction opposes them. For you, this means you get to wreck everything in sight, and get paid for your efforts.
The game is scheduled for release on July 13th, and I’m on a real tight schedule to finish it. It’ll feature at least three worlds with each a boss battle. And of course, plenty of stuff to break. Oh, here’s some screenshots to keep you entertained.
So hail to thee, oh nameless soldier, for you shall live on forever. Albeit artificially.
Hugs and kisses,
~Brian
Heya Folks!
Jun/090
After some tinkering, I finally got this Wordpress thing under control. I’ll be updating this blog whenever I’m working on games, which I hope will be quite often. If you want to know more about the guy behind all this, you can visit the main page (although it’s not actually finished at time of writing- oops!)
Games I’ll be making will hopefully be fairly diverse, though I often find myself working on action-based platformers. As I develop my own understanding of games, however, I’ll be experimenting on different types of play. But worry not! My design philosophy about making the games is that first and foremost, an entertainment game should be fun to play! That’s what made me a game nut in the first place, anyway.
On a closing note; if you wish to follow the stuff I do here but are too forgetful or busy to be checking back every day, I recommend using the RSS feed linked on the top right of the page OR the category-specific ones on the sidebar. In case, you know, you just want the good stuff.
And so we part, for the time being at least. I wish you all a nice day with a smile and fresh laundry!
~Brian
