[GAME] We who are about to Die! (+ video inside)

[jordylakiere]

Hey all! I'm a freelance artist who has been working on a game in my free time.



In “We who are about to Die” you take control of a brand new randomised gladiator with a single life, and fight your way from pit to arena to stadium, pleasing larger and larger crowds until you finally become a legend of the Grand Stadium... or gloriously die trying. Along the way you will earn weapons and armor, outfit your character and master the innovative and unique physics based combat system. Fight alongside allies against groups of enemies, or take on tense one-on-one duels that test your skills. Try your luck in the many unforgiving arena’s this game has to offer -- how long can you last before your inevitable glorious death? To those who are about to die, I salute you!

Official discord: https://discord.gg/eCdUxht
Come chat/idle & follow development!

www.reddit.com/r/WeWhoAreAboutToDie/
www.youtube.com/LakierosJordy
www.twitter.com/JordyLakiere

VLOGS:

https://www.youtube.com/user/LakierosJordy

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THIS STUFF IS VERY OLD, check later pages Game evolves fast








(online has been scrapped for the first version of the game though)

I'm dying for some feedback, so any question and suggestions are super welcome.

[jordylakiere]

Updated a bunch of stuff and added 4 more attack directions!

[jordylakiere]

It's not like this took an obscene amount of time or anything... heh.

I'll make a mosaic, I said. It'll be nice, I said.
Turns out it seems deceptively easy but is actually nightmare to "model".

Working on the visuals of the game a bit needs to be purtied up if I'm going to be making videos and updating and stuff, I figure.

[jordylakiere]

Been working on an updated character model mesh (naked/unarmored of course - would be pretty rare)

[TLBainter]

This is pretty awesome! I really enjoyed the vlog parody.

[jordylakiere]

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it haha!

[thadkinsjr]

This is really Nice. I really like the characters looks, and the shield, and sword play. I've gotten exhausted of seeing insane particle emitters all over the place, and excessive screen shake. It's way too over done, and over used. This is more focused on the game play, and art which is much more important. It kind of has an old school zelda esque sword play look to it. Also the tiles on the floor look great, and the guys body folding in half rag doll. Overall it's awesome. Really. I see UE4 games getting released, and there isn't any news on the forums. I just see it on steam, or PS4 store, and there wasn't any buzz about it. Your art is nice.

[jordylakiere]

Thank you Thadkinsjr! I totally agree on all fronts there. And I really appreciate the kind comments and taking the time to reply


Less updates on my game the last week or two because I've been freelancing (gotta pay dem bills D and because I have attacked the major undertaking of redoing the main character, rig, skin and ALL animations.
It's one of those tasks that I knew was ahead of me because I was using placeholders, so its better to just go through it and do it sooner rather than later.
So at the moment the game is pretty broken until I redo all animations!
I actually am learning a LOT about animating - it is a weakness of mine. I'm starting to use curves and trajectories to get those smooth attack/slash animations etc I also researched a bit about realistic combat moves and made a makeshift shield & using my mini arsenal of weapons and recorded myself doing all the animation the game needs, which is a huge help to get realistic movement.
Here's the final (for now) new character, the new rig, and a screenshot of an animation (one of mannnnny). The red line represents the curve the tip of the sword/axe/mace/whatever makes!

[thadkinsjr]

I've been deep into learning the animations also. I like the quirky handmade animations though. As long as all animations in the game are like that, and match. It gives it that stop motion Gumby like feel. If you have all smooth animations, and 1 or 2 that's clicky. then it gets noticed right away. I think couch knights has some good swinging shield animations, but retargeting can be tedious. Don't feel bad. I've redone my character 3-4 times, and this last time. was a struggle. Nothing seemed to work, skin weights, uv's overlapping. small bone errors. physics going nuts, forgetting to assign materials. etc. I spent about 6 hours painting every single vertex, and accidentally hit close key, and save without closing on my modelling program. Luckily I have autosave set at every 30 minutes, but then I have to figure out where I was at 30 minutes ago. Now I need to retarget everything.

[jordylakiere]

thadkinsjr -

haha yeah I know that story and those pains all too much! I updated the animations so they are hopefully decent now
What is your game about by the way?



Anyway - yay random screenshots from game I'll make an update video (there is plenty to cover!) probably this week.

Is there anything you'd want as a must-have, or are looking forward to about a gladiatorial combat game like this?

[jordylakiere]

Hey all! More work on the game in between freelance

I've added a LOT of stuff, but here are some of the highlights:

-Overall graphics update, some juicy stuff like flags that flap in the wind! Remade character, etc
-New accurate collision detection (custom made). The engines premade stuff wasn't good enough for the fast animations so I made a new system. See the pic with the blue lines! I trace the swords and see what it hits that way.
-With improved collision comes accurate determination of whether you hit the body, shield, or sword of the enemy - no matter what they are doing.
-Totally new animations (way, way better), new rig, all redone.
-Attack anims use logical shield moves (based on research I did), and the shield works at all times! Even when its lowered, or mid attack.
-Hitting an enemy sword (eg 2 attacks at the same time cross) gives a nice clank and interrupts the attack
-Had a fun sound/foley session yesterday, cracking eggshells, squeezing lemons, for that juicy gore/damage sound Also hitting swords, shields, all kinds of stuff. Very fun. Turns out hitting a spoon on a fork sounds more like swords clashing than 2 actual swords clashing.
-Added the sound of crowd and "ooh, ahh"ing when you get hit and so on. (placeholder)
-Much more stuff! The core of the game is really taking shape now, and is starting to be really fun

I'll make an update video when I find some time, and I'll probably release a demo for my Patrons. I feel bad that I haven't found much time for them lately.

[jordylakiere]

Hey everyone Been making lots of progress on my game despite freelance work!
Here is a look of some of the WIP/updated graphics on the "Arena" level. Thought I'd throw it out there in the middle of things. Video update coming soonish!

[Markyroson]

Hey everyone Been making lots of progress on my game despite freelance work!
Here is a look of some of the WIP/updated graphics on the "Arena" level. Thought I'd throw it out there in the middle of things. Video update coming soonish!

I like what you have done so far with it! Keep up the good work!

[jordylakiere]

Thank you!
Another update on the arena

[jordylakiere]

Concept vs implementation