I’ve been working on the game for roughly six months now and I wanted to go over how I went from an empty editor window to a cool steam page! After this I'll move on to really short form updates every week. I gotta get this one out though.
The first playable I came up with using stock 3D models and animations
Ideation
Mechanical Fury started as an experiment in Unreal Engine because I really just wanted to learn to use it. I started making a player character with a grappling hook. While working on it, I came up with the core mechanic of reeling into enemies and kicking them to do extra damage and the idea was too fun not to make into a full game.So, I set up a perforce server and made a detailed excel sheet outlining what I wanted to create, estimated timeframes, and the order of implementation.
Movement System
Inspired by games like Dusk and Celeste, I focused on creating a platforming experience with tight controls. The grappling hook along with the movement system and resulted in intuitive controls. With playtesters' feedback, I also ended up adding wallrunning. However, this introduced a significant challenge, which I will address in the level design section.
Enemies
Based on the design document, there are 13 enemy types categorized as Fodders, Heavies, Mini-bosses, and bosses, similar to Doom Eternal. Currently, only the fodder enemies are implemented, that you can destroy for ammo and health. There are three fodders:
Whatever they do is in the name itself!
Weaponry
There are 6 weapons that have a regular fire and an alt fire that activates when the player kicks the bullets:
- A Revolver whose bullets can be kicked to make them ricochet
- A Quad Barrel Super Shotgun that can be kicked for an explosive shot
- A Rambo-style Gattling gun which can be kicked to shoot homing bullets
- A Grenade Launcher that can be kicked into a Rocket Launcher
- A Crossbow that spins like a beyblade when kicked, slicing all enemies in its way!
- And finally the Railgun, a reference to my other game Kickback! It can literally one shot anything in its way!
Level Design
With the foundational elements in place, I delved into level design. With a ton of playtester feedback, I was able to create the whitebox of a proper first level. However, I faced a challenge as the player could only move upwards, making downward movement feel like a fail state. To address this, I introduced a slide system, allowing players to dive downwards and slide under surfaces. Paired with a progressively vertical movement system, it opened up a really engaging level design mantra.
I encourage everyone interested to join the Discord community and become an Aviator! I post regular builds and updates there!
See y'all next time!