Godly War and Ruins - Insight
Play as a “Hexblade”, a melee warlock who fights off hordes of enemies, augmenting his abilities with the gems he takes from their bodies. Three unique levels lead through winding caves and canyons in this hack and slash game.
Overview
This Game was my third-semester project. The rest of the team was very invested in the idea of a fast-paced action game where our great artists and level designers could shine. I designed tons of features, systems, and enemies. I was also responsible for keeping everything balanced and documented.
The following page merely highlights some aspects of what I did for this project.
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Genre: 3D Hack and Slash
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Engine: Unreal 5.2
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Team Size: 11
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Duration: 10 Weeks
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Release: February 2024
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Platform: PC
Role(s) and Responsibilities:
- System Design: Level-Progression System (multiple Versions), Gem-Progression- System, Movement and Combat system
- Balancing: Making Movement feel powerful in accordance to our Reference, Warframe Keeping the Gem System feel necessary
- UI: Implementation of Progression Text, Enemy Healthbars Button Prompts in HUD
- Cinematics: Created and implemented the intro and outro sequence
Documentation and Self Management
For production, I created the first Backlog, which went through many iterations. We used Trello to keep on track and I made myself user stories and checklists within my tasks to monitor my progress.
Because our game had this large scope a wiki-like documentation like with confluence was crucial to communicate effectively single features. It was important to me that team members wanted to look up the features they worked on and that they understood fast and easily what was written. For that, I used color coding and linked every feature with each other if possible. Icons were used to mark the state or the type of feature.
Game Design
The Concepts and Mechanics that made it into the game were a team effort. I oversaw the refining and documentation of each feature as well as the balancing. I made a few proposals to the team that ultimately did not make it into the game.
To give a better overview of what feedback the game has to convey to the player, I created a feedback list. This helped immensely to communicate to the team what had to be implemented and what was just nice to have.
I planned and conducted multiple playtests which I documented written, as video and also streamed for other team members via Discord.
As I learned from my previous projects it is better to balance directly in the engine with rapid playtests. To avoid large spreadsheets with complex calculations, I only used sheets to monitor changes and get a quick overview of interconnected relations of stats. With my tables, it was possible to view stat per week and compare them with other iterations by a glance.
Movement
The movement should feel powerful, fluid, and fast. Our reference for this was Warframe. As the level designers started set dressing it was less possible to change scales too much and I tried to find a balance between fun and necessity even though some mechanics were still not implemented.
It was also my intention to encourage movement within combat. For this, I proposed things like certain enemies that could only be defeated by a wall run or the reverse stamina system.
Confluence Page: Reverse Stamina System
Combat
For The Combat, first I used Darksiders 2 and Gostrunner as reference. I needed additional References to communicate the rules of combat as this was my first attempt at such a game design.
Enemies
I designed the Behaviour and Attacks as well as decided on necessary stats- and player interactions. A total of 9 Enemies were sketched. They were supposed to encourage different play styles in different situations.
Enemies Overview
AI Design
Cinematics
In the last week of production, there was no room for big changes, so I made the intro and outro cinematics with dolly shots, narrative introductions, scrolling credits, and the small animation where our hero is released from the ice. For that, I also made a transparent material.
Scripting
I scripted the logic to play the cinematics. It was important to me that it was easy to deactivate or skip certain functions when we were still testing the level. Most of the time I worked with already existing Blueprints and commented on my changes to be easily identifiable.
I also scripted the Enemy HP Bar with the logic of when it should appear and disappear. I made it first as a billboard Widget. It was then requested by the engineer lead, that the facing of the bar was made via code. Later I reverted it upon request to the billboard widget for performance reasons. I also scripted the Nest Counter for the levels.
Learnings
Overscope:
I don’t believe the rest of the team knew how complex some of the wanted features were and how much time for example the wallrun alone would consume. I planned too much content from the beginning and did not leave enough room for polishing.
Remote Communication:
Because multiple team members worked remotely I learned how to communicate more effectively through online calls, and documentation and to keep meetings brief and focused. The Value of a Good Producer: The lack of a dedicated producer on such a big team showed me once again the value of good organization and management.
Combat Design:
Before this project, I never worked on action-based combat design, and learned a lot about this. But more than that, I learned how NOT to do combat design. There were many interlocking parts that I wanted to have and I have been told too late that they would not exist. I pivoted with everything that remained as best as possible, but I am ultimately unhappy with my performance.
Being more vocal:
I still think that trust in your teammates is important. I have let that overshadow any trust in myself. The features, I thought were important, were set aside because I could not make my opinion heard. I need to say earlier, and louder, what I feel is necessary to make the game fun and what could have been cut earlier.