The Current State of the Game
Terror of Hemasaurus has progressed a tiny bit beyond the core prototype phase. I start a new game by first developing a prototype which features the smallest tastey slice possible of core gameplay. I do this to asses the viability of the game in terms of gameplay, which I personally regard as the most important attribute of a game. I played around with the prototype until I found something which I thought was fun. I sent out a tweet featuring a short clip of the gameplay and it got a great response so I took this as indication I should develop the prototype further. There is a small layer of polish already on the prototype in terms of particles, vfx, and other aspects of “juiciness”.
There is still a ton of work to do on the game and many core aspects are far from settled. I do not have an exact design document that I follow from beginning to end. Rather, my design document is a fluid list of ideas that I can pick and choose from at any moment, depending on how the game is shaping up. I also like to include community suggested ideas in that list, so please do not hesitate to share anything you might come up with or would like to see!
Core Mechanics and Gameplay
Movement:
Hemasaurus needs to be able to navigate both on land and be able to climb structures. He is a large creature, so he should move in a way that feels heavy, but is still responsive, quick and snappy in terms of processing player input.
In order to create the illusion of weight while maintaining responsive controls, I decided to communicate much of the heaviness through particle / dust effects, impact craters, and some camera effects. Something I observed in prior games within the category of “giant monsters”, is that the size and weight of the monster was often communicated through slow movement and animations. While it does create the feeling of weight, gameplay suffers because slower movements demand less action on screen. I currently feel the movement of Hemasaurus is somewhere close to balancing weight with input responsiveness, but certain aspects can still be improved. For example, I am undecided on whether there needs to be a frame or two of pre-jump loading / windup to the jumping animation, or if snappiness is ideal.
Building Destruction
One aspect that I feel made the prototype so compelling is the building destruction mechanic. After many iterations I managed to stumble upon something fun and dynamic. Hemasaurus punches / smashes as the primary means of destroying a building, but there are some other ways to do this as well.
One criticism of mine of prior monster-destroys-city style games is that the destruction mechanics were often very systematic and therefore felt repetitive over time. A dynamic physics-based solution to this problem allows for endless variety of building destruction sequences. Also, by creating buildings with varrying height, width and shape I can create a variety of structures that have their own unique tendencies towards collapse and destruction. This made destroying different types of buildings a unique and fun experience. Where as in prior games of this genre, essentially every building was destroyed in the same systematic way.
Eating (om nom nom nom)
Hemasaurus can eat civilians and other humans in order to restore health. Eating a human can be done whether walking or climbing. A slight cool-down period of vulnerability exists while Hemasaurus is chewing his victim in order to create a risk-reward tradeoff.
Kicking
Hemasaurus’s arms are too short to effectively attack the smaller humans with punches or smash attacks. However, he can kick ‘em and launch them into the air (some get instantly obliterated and turned into a pulp). This is fast firing attack that works to rapidly expunge large crowds of people.
Grabbing and Throwing People
Hemasaurus can pick up civilians and other humans and then throw them as an offensive attack. When humans are thrown, they become a projectile that collides with and kills any other humans in its trajectory. Humans can be grabbed from either the standing or the climbing position.
Roaring
Hemasaurus’s special ability is a terrifying roar. Killing and causing carnage fills up a stored energy meter which is depleted by roaring. Hemasaurus’s roar works both offensively and defensively.
Offensively, the intense pressure waves from the roar causes nearby structures to violently resonate and crumble causing civilians to enter a frenzy.
Defensively, the pressure waves push away incoming projectiles as well as repelling nearby humans.
Enemies
Police and other armed forces will attempt to defend the city by launching attacks against Hemasaurus. Incoming projectiles sometimes deal damage, other times they will ricochet harmlessly off of Hemasaurus's thick scaly skin. The probability of a hit or a ricochet is determined based on the velocity and trajectory of the incoming projectile. Shots fired by the police and other armed forces can sometimes cause collateral damage and kill other humans.
The Path Forward
There will undoubtedly be more core mechanics in the future as more gameplay elements emerge. I also plan to add vehicles, such as cars, tanks, helicopters, blimps, and others, as well as more enemies, more civilians, etc. I am planning to make each stage of the game a different city, with its own feel based on real locations world wide, as they relate to the overrall story. Right now I am in the funnest phase of game development, where everything is focused on developing new and creative elements to the game.
As always, I welcome feedback, ideas and suggestions. They definitely have an impact on me creatively so please do not hesitate to share them!
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Loren