NEONSCAPE
TRAILER
overview
Neonscape, is an First-Person, Hack & Slash, survival game that I'm currently working on as a Solo Game Developer. I started developing this game in November 2021.
Located inside a battle simulation where endless enemies are being spawned. You play as Onyx, a formidable warrior harnessing the power of the Black Lotus, a Violet Katana that manipulates space and time.
It is fast-paced, and combat-oriented, where I want the player to keep their momentum in terms of attack and defense. Utilizing many forms of Karma Ability players can perform in various conditions.
As of now, it has around 80k downloads and has an 80% positive rating over 100 reviews.
This game includes...
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Melee combat playstyle utilizes the player's Katana to engage against enemies that seek to eliminate you.
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Karma Bar, the base of the player's ability contains Karma Points and stores selections of Karmic Arts.
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Various Karmic Arts players can perform in any circumstances that they are currently against.
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Movement-centric technique that provides creative freedom to use in encounters.
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Score Tracker which challenges players to rack up a massive score while taking down enemies.
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Tutorials that introduce mechanics for the player to learn while guiding them to mastering it.
DESIGN PROCESS
Gameplay Loop
The gameplay loop falls under 3 categories which are:
- Melee combat. Using the player's swordsmanship skill to execute various combat styles
- Player's ability. Harness the power of Black Lotus to take control of the playing field
- Fast-paced movement. Maneuver the area with the player's advanced movesets
Making the Katana feel satisfying and fun
In order to find the satisfaction (umph impact) in sword combat. I research games that heavily focus on melee combat like Ghost of Tsushima, Devil May Cry 5, and Sekiro while other games like Ghostrunner and Dishonored teach me how to properly use melee combat in first-person perspective. I managed to implement some mechanics into Neonscape that came from these games I played.
1. Parry
Based on the Youtube video "The Most Satisfying Mechanic in Gaming" by Daryl Takes Games. He mentioned that parry gives players the best feeling of their time as attempting a parry leaves you wide open and the activation window is small. In Neonscape, if a player parries a melee enemy, they will be stunned for an amount of time. Players could also parry projectiles that came out from ranged enemies, causing them to bounce back. I added additional feedback like camera shake, sound effects, and visual effects which enhance the player's satisfaction upon parrying.
2. Hitstop
Nowadays it is a must to have hitstop on every melee combat game. It freezes time for a couple of frames when an impact occurs from the player's attack. It creates an impression that something hits, or for dramatic effect. Some games longer hitstop when they perform stronger attacks. In this game, having this mechanic helps tremendously on the slashing feels as it provides constant umph impact in each slash the player swings. Furthermore, having enemy knockback and hit reaction further improves the impact of the katana swings.
3. Soft Lock
Although soft locking is used more in third-person combat more, there's no denying that it can be used in first-person for other measurements. Soft locking allows the player to rotate and target towards the nearest enemy. This allows for quick hits to land accurately without fail. In Neonscape, since it's a first-person game, I want to use this for one main reason, helping the player to land hits when they thought they're close to the target. It'll be frustrating if they didn't land a hit even though they feel that they're close enough. I create a sphere trace that's slightly bigger than the attack's sphere trace. If it doesn't overlap actors on the attack's sphere but does overlap in the bigger sphere. The player will zoom forward toward the enemy, allowing a successful attack. This fixes the issue of not dealing damage due to it being off by a small margin.
Designing Black Lotus Ability
When it comes to using an ability that the Katana (Black Lotus) had. My goal is to enable the experience of controlling space from the Katana. As it has the power to manipulate space, it's crucial to prevent players from losing their immersion in it. I created 3 abilities, each offering a different element of purpose and experience.
1. Dimension Slash
The first ability is a wide slash beam that comes from unsheathing their katana. Upon unsheathing, it creates a rift portal that spawns beams coming from the slashing the player does. It comes in a row of slashes, so any targets may receive damage if they came in contact with any of the slashes.
This ability is meant for multiple targets as it works for dealing with multiple targets at once. With a medium cost of Karma, this is excellent for players who want to control the playing field. In order to enable the feel of ripping the space more effectively, I had a build-up animation where it starts by sheathing the katana first before tearing it.
2. Zangeki
It means Slash in Japanese. It is a one-hit slash that destroys any target standing before the player. Using a lock-on UI helps players track which enemy they want to eradicate from the game. Upon deciding the target, the player will zoom toward the target like a flash before dealing the blow.
This ability is meant for a single target due to its limitation to one target only. With a significant cost of Karma, this allows the player to throw their economy off in order to get a guaranteed kill. Inspiration does come from Genji of Overwatch. His Dragonblade gives players a sense of Invincible. I look at his animation form and apply it to Neonscape to achieve that same feeling.
3. Void Rift
While the other two offer power damage to the player, this ability is more toward movement. It is an ability that allows players to teleport in any direction that they aim at. Basically a get-out-of-jail-free card.
With a small cost of Karma, players can use this as an opportunity to escape from awkward encounters or use it to gain an upper hand by performing an air attack. I want players to feel like they have total freedom of creating a portal in any direction. I research Ash from Apex Legends as her ultimate had similarity with what I'm creating. The only difference is that I want the player to be able to teleport in the air.
Balancing Enemy Encounters
Now that we got all the fundamentals of player combat. It's time to drag them into the arena filled with enemies who spawn endlessly over time. My goal for the player is to be fearless and aggressive as it's their motivation to destroy everyone in their path with their katana. Wishing that'll be the case with what I have right now because players don't feel it that way.
Problem:
What happened was that players feel overwhelmed by multiple enemies attacking at once, leaving them in a defensive stance for most of the game. For a melee game, you can't go into a battle where all enemies are attacking at the same time. Like an action movie, in most cases, only one person is engaging a fight with another person, while others wait for their turn to join in.
Solution:
After reminding myself of how action movie works, one game came into my mind when it comes to working around that concept, they were Batman Arkham games. Their combat centers around player fighting against one enemy before moving to the next one. Only one enemy will engage the player as others began strafing around the player, waiting for a chance to jump in when the one enemy has fallen. That gives me the idea to create an AI grade tracker to track which enemy to attack.
I watch a GDC talk by Matthew Gallant where he explained using a hard point zone to track enemies inside the zone. With that, I managed to create a combat zone, which served as a point to track which enemies should be permitted to attack the player based on their grade. The grade is tracked from the distance enemy to the player, with the direction player is facing. So enemy who's closest to the player will be lowly prioritized if the player is facing the other side of that enemy.
I set it so that only 1 melee and 1 ranged enemy that could attack at the same time. In order for the player to be aware that the ranged enemy is attacking, I added an audio cue that tells the player once it is going to attack. Similar to Ghost of Tsushima archer enemy with the callout (Dooshoo).
BEHIND THE SCENES
Karma System
The Holy Grail of this game. By confronting an enemy, they receive Karma. The Karma System resides inside the player's Katana as it contains special abilities that the player may perform. Each of them offers various strat that the player may use in different situations. It takes Karma Points to use these abilities. Karma Points regen passively over time and actively from attacking and parrying. The main goal of Overture is for the player to bring their Karma into play against enemies.
Melee Combat
My focus when creating melee combat was to make sure that player would always engage their enemy. With their Katana, it is essential for players to be fearless rather than being feared by the enemy, as they have to leap themselves to destroy them. If the player manages to time their block, they will parry the attacks, stunning them or deflecting their projectile.
Advanced Movement
I decide to have the player utilize rapid movement to ensure that they can move freely while fighting against their opponents. It contains flexible speed with the ability to Dodge enemy attacks, vault on platforms, slide through the downhill floors, and Wall Running through walls.
Score Tracker
Having a Score would help construct the fun and challenge for the player as they can rack up points from defeating enemies. Points can be increased by chaining kills without receiving damage. You can also gain points from parrying. I added an extra mechanic that rewards players with more points for killing while on low health. This offers a great risk vs reward to the player while preventing them from going defensive when they are low on health.
Tutorials
I figured that without a clear indication of telling the player what they could do in this game. They would wander aimlessly without a clear intention of engaging an enemy, let alone using Karma Ability. I worked on tutorial levels, with each offering different types of lessons that players will learn as they progress through the level.
