Finished the blimp boss's concept. After another look at it's fight design I decided that in addition to it's attacks the spawning of minions might be a bit too much. Also no ground based enemies are introduced this early so I would either have to create an extra one or reuse one from a later level.
Friday, 28 April 2017
Thursday, 27 April 2017
Dead Metal Punks - Concepts Part 4 Orbital Assault Cannon
Bit of a simpler enemy today, ideally these enemies will be launched into the level a lot so they don't need to be too complex just functional. Their silhouettes will be easily identifiable as they fire down from the sky and the large bright turret should stop them ever getting lost in the background.
Monday, 24 April 2017
Dead Metal Punks - Concepts Part 3 The Crawling Fortress
Finished concept for the submarine boss. Originally the idea for this had a standard rounded front, however it made opening it up difficult and the laser was mostly obscured from a side on perspective. In the end I went with a mostly flat front to combat these issues.
Put one of the tanks in the render to show the scale of this boss.
Saturday, 22 April 2017
Dead Metal Punks - Concepts Part 2 Concord Mini Tanks
Since I already have a full toolkit created for making tanks/planes I decided to experiment with creating the concept for the Mini Tanks in 3D. This saves a lot of time since I don't have to worry about working out the perspective and can focus purely on the key shapes of the tank.
This image is the final design I decided to go with, as with other enemies the side view of the model needs to be immediately identifiable. Going with the stubby cannon and a chunky main body gives the model a nice comical side profile.
This is a redo of the spider mech render from last semester. I have added style factors that make it consistent with the rest of the concept art, I should have done this with all the older renders but it's not worth going back and redoing all the finished models again.
Friday, 21 April 2017
Dead Metal Punks - Concepts Part 1 Hermit Tanks
Started doing the concept art now. I have decided that only certain enemies need concept art (shield soldiers etc only need a few model changes not a radically different design). Started off with the hermit tanks with metal shells, I think I'm going to go with the left most design. The left and middle design try to follow a similar theme to real shells, where the object coils upto the top. The left design would work very well in a side on perspective and has little noise around the cannon so its easily visible and personally I like the curves in its shell more than the others.
Each of the weapon types could still work for that shell so possible variation could work.
Thursday, 13 April 2017
Dead Metal Punks - Enemy Designs
Now that every boss (Aside from the final one) are finished its time to figure out how the new enemies in each level work. Some of these enemies will have several variations so they fit other level themes (Finned dinosaurs in the underwater sections etc).
It was a bit simpler to create these designs since they cannot have an overwhelming amount of mechanics.
**Desert 2**
**Helicopter**
**Movement**
Stays on screen permanently until destroyed.
The Helicopter will shift around above the player in one of 2 different lanes (Top 33% and middle 33%).
Moves quite fast and requires some leading on the attacks.
**Attacks**
It fires either a burst of machine gun fire or slow homing missiles towards the player.
**Desert 4**
**Shield Trooper**
**Movement**
Moves slowly towards the player with its shield up.
When player jumps over this enemy takes a few seconds to turn around and protect itself.
**Attacks**
Pulls back the shield and kicks the player when in melee range.
Electrifies the shield (Visibly glows) when hit, reflects the projectile towards the player as a red bullet.
**Weakness**
The shield can be destroyed (switches AI to Knife Trooper) after a lot of damage.
Best way of killing is to find a way behind and shoot the trooper in the back.
**Jungle 1**
**Pterodactyls**
**Movement**
Moves along the screen like a jet but moves up and down along its path.
**Attacks**
Drops 2 bombs (in sequence) that bounce when they hit the floor into a spray of bullets. (These bombs are much easier to deal with if shot out of the sky as they don't spawn bullets)
**Allosaurus**
**Movement**
Runs along the ground towards the player and rams the tank.
If the player jumps over it takes a few seconds to turn around and continues charging.
**Attacks**
Rams the tank, knocking it into the air.
**Jungle 2**
**Raptor**
**Movement**
Runs towards the player and gets into a medium range.
(If can get working) Jumps around the platforms in a level.
**Attacks**
Fires a charged laser towards the player from a range.
After bending down and wiggling its tail, jumps at the players location and swipes.
If player enters melee range will try to bite.
**Triceratops**
**Movement**
Charges along the screen then turns round and charges again.
*Attacks**
Attempts to run into the player and knock them into the air (They can dash away to after being knocked up to prevent an additional hit)
This enemy has a destroy able headpiece so that the player can get to its body, However they can also get behind to avoid the need to destroy the headpiece.
**Jungle 3**
**MiniTank**
**Movement**
Comes in behind or in front of the player and stays near the edge of the screen.
**Attack**
Fires slow bullets at the player from a distance.
Special elite ones can fire fast moving projectiles.
**SpiderBot*
**Movement**
Clings to walls and walks along one of 3 paths above the player.
Stops to charge and fire weapon.
**Attacks**
Charges up a laser and fires at the location of the player at start of charge.
Alternative - Fires a spray of bullets in the players direction.
Alternative - Fires triple laser in a cone shape (Elite)
**Snow 1**
**MiniTank**
Much more deathly than the tank version, basically minibosses. Explosives deal double damage to these.
**Movement**
Comes in behind or in front of the player and stays near the edge of the screen.
Alternative - Is waiting in fortifications for the player
Alternative - Trys to run the player down in a gauntlet situation.
**Attack**
Fires slow bullets at the player from a distance.
Special elite ones can fire fast moving projectiles.
**Snow 2**
**Skyfall Turret**
**Movement**
Launches down from orbit at the ground in front of the player (Visible indicator shows landing position)
Opens up once landed revealing a turret.
**Attacks**
Can have one of 3 turrets.
Machine gun turret - Fires a burst of bullets at the player
Laser turret - Fires a short laser after a small charge time.
Missile turret- Fires missiles up into the air that lock onto the player.
**Snow 3**
No new enemy planned for this level at the moment. If the level feels like it would benefit from a new enemy during testing I will add a new one.
**Underwater 1**
**Hermit Turret Crab**
**Movement**
Moves towards the player slowly.
Stops periodically and hides in its shell.
**Attacks**
When hiding the top of the shell opens up and reveals either a bullet or laser turret.
Laser turret charges before firing at the location the player was when it started to charge.
Bullet turret fires a 2 Red projectiles at the player.
**Underwater 2**
No new enemy planned for this level at the moment. The plane models need underwater modifications for this level so that takes priority over new content.
**Space 1 - Final Boss**
**Tiny Drone**
These drones only appear inside the lily sections of the boss fight and in large numbers. They die very easily.
**Movement**
Floats around and follows lily from a distance.
**Attacks**
Fires slow standard bullets at the player. (Sometimes Red Bullets)
Tuesday, 11 April 2017
Dead Metal Punks - Boss Planning Part 3
Final set of regular bosses worked out now. On the first hybrid level I decided to make the boss Lily only so that, first there is 6 of each boss type and second I want the hybrid boss to be special so there will only be the last boss that has that aspect to it.
**Boss Placeholder Name :**
Supreme Commando
**Gameplay Type:**
Lily
**Description : **
A modified super soldier equipped with jet boots and a variety of weapons.
**Attacks:**
Boss can jump up off the screen and land on one of several platforms and fire towards the player for one wave of attacks. He will then either jump to another platform or back to the ground.
Both Modes.
Pull out a machine gun and fire bullets in an arc towards the player, one bullet is red.
Toss grenades towards the player, bounce for one second before exploding.
Ground Only.
Pull out a rocket launcher and fire one projectile in a horizontal line towards the player. (Red)
Dash towards the player and do a roundhouse kick, this knocks the player to the side of the area if hit.
Dash away from the player towards the more open side of the area.
Platform only.
Fire a minigun towards the player in a wide spray (occasional red bullets)
Call airstrike on an area of the arena.
**How to kill:**
Simple shoot to kill whilst dodging and destroying bullets.
Grenades can be shot within range of him and deal damage.
**Arena Description:**
Small arena with a flat ground layer and 2 platforms (At different levels) that are out of the players reach.
The player is also unable to get underneath the platforms.
**Tactics:**
Dodge his constant barrage of attacks and wear him down.
at 50% hp (if on platform he falls to ground level) he will drop a weapon to aid in killing him.
**Unlocks**
Unlocks Deflecter Robot mod for the tank
Unlocks Cluser Grenades Special for Lily
Unlocks Concept Art
**Boss Placeholder Name :**
Super Tank
**Gameplay Type:**
Tank
**Description : **
A giant 4 legged tank (around 3 times the size of Dead Metal) equipped with a scoop at the front, large twin laser cannons, small turrets and homing missiles.
**Attacks:**
Fires a barrage of homing missiles towards the player.
Charges up the main laser cannons and fires after 2 seconds at the players location (2 seconds ago)
Fires general destroyable bullets from small turrets.
Scoop opens up and fires a large rolling projectile towards the player
Slams the ground with the 2 legs facing the player and causes a shockwave that needs to be dodged.
Scuttles around the arena (can be jumped over)
**How to kill:**
Deal enough damage to destroy
Destroying turrets does extra damage to the tank, they do not regenerate.
**Arena Description:**
The ground level is flat (so the enemy tank can maneuver easily)
**Tactics:**
Keeping a good distance is important so the player can react to the attacks.
Destroying the small turrets early on to make it easier to focus on the important parts.
**Unlocks**
Unlocks Mounted Laser mod for the tank.
Unlocks Quadshot for the tank.
Unlocks Concept art
**Boss Placeholder Name :**
Burrowing Tank
**Gameplay Type:**
Lily
**Description : **
A large tank with a drill on the front, side mounted launchers and a gattling gun for its main turret.
**Attacks:**
The tank will retreat underground every 25% of its health (Also once within the first 30 seconds of the fight) for one round of attacks.
Underground Mode.
Burrows underground and hides.
Launches out of the ground. (after a delay and visible indicators)
Whilst underground it can slam the drill through the ground then dive back into the snow (after a delay and visible indicators) Any platforms hit by this will be destroyed for a period of time.
Above Ground Mode.
Fires side mounted launchers. These projectiles will move towards the player after hitting the ground and explode on contact.(Can be destroyed)
Fires a spray of bullets at the player from its main cannon.
After a small indicator it will charge towards the side of the screen that is behind the player.
**How to kill:**
The tank will have a weak engine block on the back that takes double damage.
Shoot till it dies.
**Arena Description:**
The base layer of the level is flat and above is a few Ice platforms for the player to maneuver around on.
These platforms can be destroyed by the tanks drill or explosives.
**Tactics:**
During the burrowed phase it is safer to stay on the platforms and avoid the tank as it dives out of the ground. The platforms will be destroyed when hit by the tank so trying to keep as many alive as possible is key.
During the above ground phase the player can try and get the tank to expose its weak engine by staying on the ground until it charges to the side of the screen (drill side only).
Whilst the engine is exposed the player can either stay on the ground or retreat to the safer area within the platforms.
**Unlocks**
Unlocks Super Pistol for Lily
Unlocks MiniNuke Launcher special for the tank.
Unlocks Concept Art.
**Boss Placeholder Name :**
Uber Submarine
**Gameplay Type:**
Tank
**Description : **
A Huge tracked submarine covered in cannons, portholes and a shielded lower section that slams forwards and backwards. The whole boss is constantly breaking through the underwater base and causing a lot of mayhem.
**Attacks:**
Has several ports on its upper half that can spawn a machinegun, laser or bomb turret. These turrets regenerate after a few seconds if destroyed.
If the player gets too close to the lower half the front will slam forwards and damage the player (Also knock them forwards away from the submarine) being hit by this attack makes the submarine slow down for a few seconds so the player can regain their bearings.
Every 25% of health lost the front will open up and fire giant lasers down a 3rd of the screen. There will be a tracer line showing which area will be hit for a few seconds before firing.
**How to kill:**
Destroying turrets on the boss deals a chunk of damage.
Randomly generated explosive sections of the roof can be shot down ontop of the submarine to slow it down and do extra damage.
**Arena Description:**
The Arena is constantly being generated in front of the player whilst the submarine destroys the previous section. Each section will be randomised with several platforms to evade attacks. Parts of the roof will be visibly dangerous to hint that they can damage the boss.
**Tactics:**
This boss is all about keeping ahead of its main body and avoiding bullet fire.
The boss will be moving forwards slightly faster than the camera until it reaches half the screens width.
To move it back the player must either damage it 25% or use an explosive section of the roof.
**Unlocks**
Unlocks Shield Generator mod for Tank
Unlocks Concept Art
Thursday, 6 April 2017
Dead Metal Punks Bug Fixing
After releasing the demo on greenlight I have been made aware of some bugs and performance issues. Normally I would put them in the backlog and carry on designing, but I want the game to make a good impression. I've went through the game and replicated each of the bugs/performance issues and then worked on a fix for each of them.
Issue log - All Resolved.
Bugs:
- On death menu selects all taking the player back to start of current level instead of requested level.
- Death from falling time longer than intended.
- First Chomper Bot in lily's level had broken motion paths which made it undamagable in certain locations.
- Sound volumes not saving between levels - The saved values were not being pulled when entering a new level to set the volume
- Camera gets stuck for several seconds at bottom of second elevator in section 4
- SFX Slider causing flickering menu sizes.
Performance:
- Boom Explosions causing extreme frame spikes. Reverted to less intensive explosions until I can around to making a new explosion.
- Certain parts of levels causing framedrops. This is due to unnecessary stationary lighting creating large shadows that kill performance, these are all now static.
Self evaluated problems:
These are aspects that I have been wanting to change for a while but since I was removing bugs I implemented these changes.
- Reduced solider model quality in level from 38k poly to 8k poly. This was originally part of the plan but I ran low on time. The entire model was reduced piece by piece and required re-rigging and skinning.
- Increased the movement speed of lily by 50 so she can avoid projectiles easier and generally has better feel.
- Increased player projectile speed on Lily from 1100 to 1700, again its more snappy and feels more impactful at a higher speed.
- Reduced soldier health a small amount and reduced enemy projectile speed from 400 to 300.
- Found that the landscape in Lily's level was 70% of the loaded asset volume, since it can no longer be seen (It was used in initial testing) it has been removed. Loading times and general performance in level is now better.
- Added distance culling for meshes, it isn't noticeable ingame as only things off screen are culled. Adds a little performance gain.
- All in all, the improvements in performance have been massive in certain areas. For example, the hanger would run in editor testing at around 50 fps where as it now runs around 90 fps. Clearly stationary lights can kill performance if overused.
Wednesday, 5 April 2017
Dead Metal Punks - Boss Planning Part 2
After struggling with a bit of motivation, due to essay writing, I have gotten back to creating bosses. Knowing that the game is now on greenlight is also helping drive me forwards, knowing it is on somewhere gaining useful visibility.
**Boss Placeholder Name :**
Sentient Walls
**Gameplay Type:**
Tank
**Description : **
In the final room of the forest facility the walls slam down on both sides of the character. These walls have lots of openings that spawn into turrets and move about.
**Attacks:**
Spawn a turret from one of 8 openings in the wall. Can be a laser, machine gun, rocket or bomb turret. These turrets spawn regularly and don't require the others to be dead to spawn.
Opens up a section of the wall and spawns a ground based enemy or helicopter that charges around the floor of the level until destroyed.
Each wall crawls towards the centre of the level in small bursts. Creating less space for maneuvering.
Every 25% hp speeds up firing speeds of weapons.
**How to kill:**
Every time a turret is destroyed the corresponding wall moves back towards its original position. Keeping the turrets in check is key to this fight so that the arena stays large enough for the player to dodge.
Keeping a focus on the correct targets is key to keeping this boss from overwhelming the player. The turrets will be a decent size but still easily miss-able if aiming poorly.
**Arena Description:**
The arena for this is very open and basic since the players positioning is key.
**Tactics:**
Taking out the turrets quickly is very important. They will have small health pools but spawn quite quickly, destroying too many of their bullets will be detrimental to the player (Since that will soak up a lot of damage).
Since the player will have some power ups by this point they will be more powerful so that is why this boss gets faster the closer to death it gets.
**Unlocks**
Unlocks The Jury weapon for the tank.
Unlocks Mounted Laser mod for the tank.
Unlocks Concept art.
**Boss Placeholder Name :**
Helimech Commando
**Gameplay Type:**
Tank
**Description : **
A rounded mech that used a large helicopter blade to fly around. The mech can fly around or slam to the ground and walk around.
**Attacks:**
Air Mode
Homing Missles fire from its shoulders periodically whilst in the air.
Calls in a wave of enemy planes to bombard the area.
Fires a large cone of bullets towards the player that can be shot down.
Starts up a frontal shield that projectiles bounce off and become his. Charges up and slams the ground, creating a damaging shockwave.
Ground Mode
Fires missiles up into the sky that home in on the tank (Stands still whilst doing this).
Starts up a frontal shield that projectiles bounce off and become his. This shield is active when he prepares to charge across the screen.
Charges across the screen towards the edge across from the player and slashes an area around him.
Launches back into the sky leaving another shockwave below.
**How to kill:**
Standard damage to kill. It is small target so will be relatively difficult to hit.
**Arena Description:**
Open area of forest.
**Tactics:**
Dodge and destroy projectiles whilst slowly killing the boss.
**Unlocks**
Dragon Cannon weapon for tank.
Air Intake mod for tank.
Unlocks Concept Image.
**Boss Placeholder Name :**
Crab King
**Gameplay Type:**
Lily
**Description : **
A giant genetically modified crab with several modifications including, weapons in its back and fast regeneration of limbs. Throughout the level the crab attacks the player through a wall with a single claw.
**Attacks:**
One claw fitted with a fast firing machine gun that fires at the player.
Other claw fitted with a horizontal firing laser that is easy to jump over.
Both of these claws will attempt to grab the player if they are not firing and lily is close enough to them.
Ports on its back can open up to reveal other weapons, ranging from machine guns to homing missiles.
**How to kill:**
The exoskeleton of the crab reduces damage to a very low level.
When the crab opens up its ports or claws it reveals part of its fleshy insides, hitting these does a lot of damage. If enough damage is done to a ports exoskeleton it will crack and break off for a short period of time, exposing the flesh again.
The flesh will bulge out above the area, making it a easily visible.
**Arena Description**
The crab itself is the main stage in its arena. Lily will fight it from its back as it crawls around the level. As it wanders around plaforms will be available to jump to but these will be destroyed if one of the claws comes into contact with it.
These platforms can contain guns, but the gun will be destroyed if hit by the crab before the player can obtain it.
**Tactics:**
This boss will be a constant barrage of different avoidable attacks. At this point in the game the player will have dashing and possibly the shield if they equip it, so they can avoid the fire.
Focusing on busting through the weaker parts of the boss' armour is key for defeating it quickly. A shotgun will be able to break this boss' armour with ease.
**Unlocks**
Rocket Pack 2 mod for the tank
Super Pistol for Lily
Unlocks Concept Image.
Tuesday, 4 April 2017
On Greenlight!
Dead Metal Punks now has a greenlight page, hopefully getting it on steam will be easy enough if this goes well.
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