I’ve spent the last few months working on a project that I’m excited to finally show.
The game is called Gizmo and it’s all about this little robot fella. Here is a short video showing him in action in a test level my mate and I built. The game is going to be a real throw back to classic 3D platformers like Crash Bandicoot, but with a big modern overhaul and some fun game mechanics to give it its own voice. I’m going to be posting more regularly as we make this game to share the process with whoever is interested and hopefully get some feedback to steer us in the right direction!
We’ve been focusing primarily on the player mechanics and making sure that it’s FUN to play first and foremost and trying to get the feel that developers talk about as best we can. Here are some of the different ways you can attack in the game. Demonstrated of course on the classic “wooden” crate
hey guys big update though it may not look like it, gizmo has all new animations, we’re currently working on the particle fx for his hand and feet thrusters and developing level mechanics alongside his animation, more to come soon!
Yep, his little eye lens will be very cartoony and expressive, in terms of his character, we’re defining him like a loyal dog, if Doug from Up was a robot. Hopefully we’ll be able to get some of this energetic personality across in the body movement as well as
We’ve started an instagram account where we’re posting a TON of vids showing the games development, follow us on here, I’ll try and keep posting progress on this forum as well, but it’s hard getting the gif file sizes down to fit to be honest
Hey! Looks incredibly fun to play about with, such a fascinating character for a game with a heap of potential. Just out of my own curiosity…how did you go about creating the ‘rolling’ Gizmo? I’ve been looking to create a sonic the hedgehog type ‘roll’ and this is the closest I have seen to somebody achieving my desired look. Is he a new pawn that you swap to or is he a blend or is he something else I haven’t thought of entirely? Any insight into how you achieved this would be a massive help! Cheers, and keep up the good work!
Hey, thanks for the kind words! the rolling mechanic was achieved by using the “crouch” movement to reduce the capsule collision in size and animation to collapse the character down. I then created a rolling loop animation and set that up the same way you’d set up a static movement -> walk cycle 2D blend, and used the animation blueprint to toggle between these states depending on crouched event. There are a number of variables that also trigger in order for his actions and behaviour to work with the things he interacts with.
We’re very excited to share the work in progress of our demo level for Gizmo. It’s coming along pretty well, we’ve spent a long time in layout figuring out the level mechanics and trying to do something that flows and challenges the player. But now we’re on the fun stage of set dressing and building assets to populate the set. Our plan is to produce a single level that hopefully shows what the game could be in the hopes of getting some interest from gamers and backers. Hope you like how it’s going!
Ah thank you so much for the explanation! I was curious to find out if he was using the same rig/skeleton when he rolls as his body parts tuck away(disappear?) so it had me stumped for a while! Like I said before the movement looks super fun and I’m excited to have a go, any wind of a demo soon? I actually saw your set dressing update on Reddit just the other day and I am loving the atmosphere. Great job!
thanks! yeah it’s all one skeleton, and all the parts fold away inside. i did explore maybe switching rigs, but because we weren’t sure about the speed of the change and things, we decided to design the character to it could actually do the transformation and we sped up the animation considerably to make it feel more intuitive and responsive to the player.
we haven’t set a date yet for the demo, but it’ll be early this year, we have a composer working on the score and hoping to release something else a bit exciting at the same time
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Check out our Main Menu screen we’ve been working on!
