[ALPHA] Kaboom Arena - We make things go BOOM!

qdelpeche · March 7, 2015, 4:34pm

Kaboom Arena is a fast paced game where your primary objective is to survive in the arena by blowing up your opponents with all manner of items and weapons that go boom.

The game is an isometric, 3D-rendered remake of classics like Bomberman but with a more free-form, less lane-oriented design.

http://button.indiedb.com/popularity/medium/games/39665.png http://button.moddb.com/popularity/medium/games/39665.png

The game is currently still in Alpha and we have just released v0.7.0.3, see this post for more information.

Overview:
Your primary weapon is a bomb, that can be enhanced by drinking one of the many different types of power-up potions scattered throughout the arena. Throw the bomb and watch in glee as it explodes.

Your secondary weapon is some dynamite that is dropped at your feet waiting to catch out any other players running behind you. This weapon can also be enhanced to become more of a defensive weapon.

The game is intended to be played by 1 to 8 players on a single arena.

The Story:
You are a Goblin Sapper, thrust into an arena by those pesky Humans to fight for your life, and of course be the source of their entertainment.

You will need to use all your skills of “Da Boom” coupled with your cunning and guile to survive, but not even death will bring an end to the misery thanks to those **** Human Wizards who are always resurrecting you.

Use the gold that your opponents drop to buy more powerful items to bring with you into the arena and maybe give you that extra edge.

It is time to make things go BOOM!!!

Your Player:
Your Goblin Sapper has a couple of attributes that allow you to get a quick indication of their status.

http://kaboomarena.gobbogames.co/img/player/health.png

Your health is limited, make sure you look after it because when your health reaches 0 you are dead and will have to re-spawn to continue playing. Find potions of health scattered around the arena to keep it at maximum level. Luckily those annoying Human Wizards have perfected the art of resurrecting you, so when you die you will be able to quickly re-spawn and be back in the arena blowing things up.

http://kaboomarena.gobbogames.co/img/player/stamina.png

Your stamina is limited and allows your Goblin Sapper to make a mad dash to get out of or in to trouble. While dashing around, your Goblin Sapper is unable to throw Bombs or drop Bundles of Dynamite. As long as you have stamina and you keep the dash button held down, your Goblin Sapper will move at double the normal speed. Replenish your stamina by picking up Potions of Stamina that are dropped by other players when they die.

Weapons:
Kaboom Arena uses two basic weapons to achieve the level of destruction that is common in the arena.

http://kaboomarena.gobbogames.co/img/weapons/bomb.png

Bombs are your primary weapon, you start with 5 and you regenerate them at a rate of 1 every 2 seconds. Use the quirkiness of the bounce to catch your opponents out. Bombs arm themselves after the first bounce and have a fuse length of 2 seconds.

http://kaboomarena.gobbogames.co/img/weapons/dynamite.png

Bundles of Dynamite are your secondary weapons, you start with 5 and you regenerate them at a rate of 1 every 5 seconds. Drop them behind you as you move to catch out any opponents chasing you. Bundles of Dynamite arm themselves as soon as you move away from them and they have a fuse length of 1 second.

Loot:
During the course of the game, loot will be dropped by other players in the form of gold, health potions, and stamina potions. Remember that no matter what the victory condition is, you should always try to pick up as much gold as possible.

http://kaboomarena.gobbogames.co/img/loot/gold.png

Every time you kill an opposing Goblin Sapper, they drop a portion of the gold they are carrying. Gold can be used to win rounds in certain conditions but they can also be used in the shop to buy items that you can use in future rounds. Remember anyone can pick the gold up, so you have to be quick.

http://kaboomarena.gobbogames.co/img/loot/health.png

The health potion is the only way of keeping your health at maximum levels while playing. Health potions are instant use items and you can only pick them up if your health is not at maximum level. The potions are dropped when a Goblin Sapper is killed and they will only remain in the arena for 60 seconds after being dropped. A health potion restores 25 health when it is drunk.

http://kaboomarena.gobbogames.co/img/loot/stamina.png

The stamina potion is the only way to get your stamina back up to maximum levels, see the stamina section for more information on why you need stamina. The potions are dropped when a Goblin Sapper is killed but only if they have maximum stamina at the point they are killed. The potions remain in the arena for 60 seconds after being dropped and restore 25 stamina when they are drunk.

Power-Ups:
During the course of the game, various power-ups will be spawned all over the arena. All power-ups are activated automatically when you run over them and have a limited life span, so you will need to learn to use them wisely and figure out what strategy best suits your playing style.

http://kaboomarena.gobbogames.co/img/power/cluster_bomb.png

With the Cluster Bomb power-up, your normal bombs will create 4 “bomblets” on detonation. These “bomblets” will create 4 more “bomblets” each on detonation. The two stages of “bomblets” all have a reduced damage range and reduced damage scale than their parent.

http://kaboomarena.gobbogames.co/img/power/incendiary_bomb.png

The Incendiary Bomb power-up turns your normal bombs into a wide area destructive weapon that coats everything in flames. The flames will stay in the area for 30 seconds and anyone entering the area will take progressive fire damage.

http://kaboomarena.gobbogames.co/img/power/bouncy_bomb.png

Your normal Bombs already have a quirkiness to their bounce, the Bouncy Bomb makes this even more quirky. The Bouncy Bomb will continue to bounce until it finally detonates. It has a longer fuse time and can be thrown much further, so be careful when throwing these in enclosed areas.

http://kaboomarena.gobbogames.co/img/power/bag_o_bombs.png

The Bag of Bombs is one of those cool things that the Human Wizards actually came up with. It is basically a bag containing an unlimited supply of bombs, it however only lasts for 15 seconds from the moment you pick it up. So use it wisely and use it quickly.

Items:
Typically the items are purchased from the shop, but there are some items that spawn along with normal power-ups in the arena. Items can only be picked up if you have an empty slot in your hot-bar and you can only pick up one item per hot-bar slot. Some items are singular use and other items have multiple uses, your hot-bar will give you an indication of the type of item and its uses.

http://www.kaboomarena.com/img/items/smoke_bomb.png

The Smoke Screen is a barrel of 5 Smoke Bombs. The smoke screen will remain active in the area for 60 seconds and can be used to cover your retreat or hide all manner of explosives in it. The smoke screen is a once-off power-up and is expended every time you drop one.

Website & Forum:
Official Website
Official Forum

Press Kit:
Press Kit

Social Media:
Facebook
Google+
Twitter (@ggkaboomarena)

qdelpeche · March 16, 2015, 6:26pm

Update: 7th March 2015
This is a heavy WIP, but I thought I would share the Main Menu with everyone here. The music was custom written for the game by Karl Muller Music and Sound Design.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=JyBH6QIvthU

Update: 16th March 2015
So we have made a few changes now and added a few effects and features.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZeM85tdqLWQ

qdelpeche · March 22, 2015, 2:16pm

Update: 22nd March 2015
We now have a fully networked enabled re-spawn system. Not to mention the added background audio and modified audio to work better with the game.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=80T27j2c4D4

Please Note: The game play is still a little slow because it is just me playing on two client machines … it will get faster paced with the next release.

qdelpeche · March 28, 2015, 11:38am

Update: 28th March 2015
Our new website is up and running: http://www.kaboomarena.com/

qdelpeche · April 12, 2015, 5:04pm

Update: 12th April 2015
It is time to release v0.2.0.0 to everyone.

Before we continue, please remember that this is an ALPHA release and by its nature there are bound to be bugs and issues. As an Alpha Tester you should be aware of this and realise that this is not indicative of the final product.

The game is at a playable state now but there are still a few features missing, these will be added over the course of the next few weeks … but I thought I might as well release and see what happens.

Kaboom Arena – Alpha Release Notes & Instructions

The game is currently still in Alpha and we have just released v0.7.0.3, see this post for more information.

qdelpeche · April 13, 2015, 11:32am

Update: 13th April 2015
So we are now working on the next release for Kaboom Arena and our plan is to do bi-weekly releases until we get to a Beta state. Below is a list of the next set of features that we want to implement for the next release:

DONE - Add persistent player settings screen
DONE - Add social media features (Twitter for now, others to follow)
DONE - Add in-game chat system

We are also currently preparing the Linux Client and Linux Server builds in order to get our Alpha test server up. I will do another announcement regarding the Linux Client and Linux Server when they are ready.

qdelpeche · April 19, 2015, 9:03am

Update: 19th April 2015
It is time to release v0.3.0.0 to everyone.

Before we continue, please remember that this is an ALPHA release and by its nature there are bound to be bugs and issues. As an Alpha Tester you should be aware of this and realise that this is not indicative of the final product.

Kaboom Arena – Alpha Release Notes & Instructions

The game is currently still in Alpha and we have just released v0.7.0.3, see this post for more information.

Release Notes:
[FIXED] Join server bug where the error message would never be displayed when a server couldn’t be connected to.
[FIXED] The arena wall textures where he edge could be seen.
[FIXED] The non-random nature of the arena floor, this is now completely random on each level load.
[FIXED] The non-random nature of the arena pillars, this is now completely random on each level load.
[ADDED] Social media integration for Twitter, see the player setup page for more information.
[ADDED] Persistent player settings including player name and Twitter handle.
[ADDED] In game chat system to taunt your opponents with.
[ADDED] Gamepad support for in game menus and re-spawn functions.
[CHANGED] A lot of the sounds to the final versions and no longer using placeholder sounds.

qdelpeche · April 19, 2015, 4:43pm

Update: 19th April 2015
It is time to release v0.3.1.0 to everyone.

This is an urgent fix to resolve some of the issues experienced during multi-player with the weapons spawning being offset from the player.

Before we continue, please remember that this is an ALPHA release and by its nature there are bound to be bugs and issues. As an Alpha Tester you should be aware of this and realise that this is not indicative of the final product.

Kaboom Arena – Alpha Release Notes & Instructions

The game is currently still in Alpha and we have just released v0.7.0.3, see this post for more information.

Release Notes:
[FIXED] Bug where the weapons could be spawned offset from the player and continued to do that until the player was killed.

qdelpeche · April 21, 2015, 3:55am

Update: 21st April 2015
This is some game play footage of the Alpha v0.3.1.0 that we recorded during a play test session. You can’t hear my voice because my software was not configured to record my Microphone.

This is the raw footage, so you will hear us discuss one of the bugs and a possible solution as well as a host of other topics.

My thanks go to Richard Asbridge and Matthew Leach for making the play test so awesome.

EDIT: Uploaded a better quality video that is much shorter.

qdelpeche · May 5, 2015, 5:57am

Plan for Week 19 of 2015
So at the end of this week, we are planning on releasing v0.5.0.0 to everyone. This release will mark a milestone as we will now have end-to-end gameplay of all of the core game mechanics. This release will also see us starting down the process of Steam Greenlight as the team felt we needed to have victory conditions before we attempted to do a Steam Greenlight.

DONE - Victory Condition - Gold
DONE - Dash Ability
DONE - Power Up - Bag’o’Bombs
DONE - Power Up - Incendiary Bomb
DONE - Power Up - Smoke Screen
DONE - Power Up - Bouncy Bomb
DONE - Power Up - Cluster Bomb
DONE - GUI Tweaks and Updates
DONE - HUD Tweaks and Updates

v0.5.0.0 will be hitting the servers by Sunday the 10th May at around lunchtime GMT+2.

qdelpeche · May 8, 2015, 10:46am

This was suggested by franktech on another thread, so I am adding it here as well. 8-}

The game is Kaboom Arena, it is currently in early Alpha (with a new release coming this weekend) and is an alternate take on Bomberman with some unique game play elements. We have gone for a Scrolling Top Down view where your focus is your player and the objective is to take out the players using your primary (bombs) and secondary (dynamite) weapons. There are power-ups for both weapons and there are victory conditions ranging from most kills to most gold. It is still early Alpha and we have only recently added the power-ups and victory conditions.
My rig is as follows:

Intel Core i5 4670K - 3.40Ghz Socket 1150 Processor
MSI Intel H81M-P33 H81 Chipset Motherboard - Socket 1150
MSI AMD Radeon R7 260X 2GB GDDR5 OC Graphics Card
Zalman 600W Power Supply - ZM600-LX
2x Crucial Ballistix Tactical Tracer DDR3 1866 Gaming Memory - 4GB - Red & Green LED (8GB RAM – being upgraded to 16GB soon)
2x 23" Monitors at 1920x1080
Window 7 Professional 64BIT

Using Engine 4.7.6 both the GitHub version and the Launcher version. I am using GitHub, but my Sound guy and AI guys are using the launcher build.
I have implemented the “Persistent Graphics Menu” fromt the Marketplace, so we can now support some low-end PCs. The sound guy actually has his fiance playing the game on a pretty low spec machine (that she wasn’t able to play on until I implemented the graphics settings). Unfortunately I don’t have the full specs yet as we are still early in Alpha, but this release this weekend will include the graphics changes and so we should get more feedback on minimum requirements.

The entire game is primarily built in Blueprints and if we start seeing performance hits we will move performance critical code to C++ … but there has not been a need yet. The game is Alpha and based on current progress (which is lighting fast compared to Torque 3D), we are hopefully aiming for a Beta release in June and maybe a final release in July or August.

It is a small “casual” (I use the term loosely) game that is designed to be played over the network or internet and we are still contemplating using Steam or just doing our own online sub-system.

I started the game on 4.6 and have gone through all the upgrades and changes to the current version without extraneous time spent on migration. When we get to final release state, we will lock the version of Unreal Engine and will no longer upgrade to different engine versions, but while we are early on in this process … it makes sense to keep up to date with the changes in the engine.

C-Arch · May 8, 2015, 8:04pm

Coming along nicely.

My personal taste would be to make the bombs one of those barrels he carries on his back. It would be easier to spot. Perhaps its easy to see the bombs when playing the game fullscreen but on the small video it does look a bit obscured.

Also adding a skylight to the level will get rid of those super black shadows and make it overall visually more appealing.
I haven’t downloaded and played it so im not sure exactly how the bombs are controlled but it looks almost too easy to avoid being hit.

Have you considered perhaps tweaking it so that you can rapidly throw 3 bombs in succession giving you the ability to cover 3 points, leaving only one point of escape for the enemy? So if they are not paying attention killing them would be easier.
One more thing… a suicide option would be cool, so if enemies are very close to you, you can explode and take them out with you…

Keep up the good work.

qdelpeche · May 9, 2015, 4:36am

Hey man, there is a new update hitting the server this weekend that addresses some of the items you raised, so I have responded to your feedback individually below. 8-}

The barrels on his back are actually used to store the bombs and dynamite that he is carrying. We have however created a super weapon called Keg of Boom (currently not in the game) and it is powered by all the bombs you are carrying and then some. Only one of these spawn on the level at a time and you have to go to it, activate it, and then defend it to prevent others from taking over the activation of it. This is going to be added in to one of the later versions.

In the version being released this weekend (v0.5.0.0), we have added a Graphics Settings System that allows users to tweak the settings to the hearts desire. I have all the prettiness dialed up on my machine so future versions of videos should be much clearer and look much better.

Having said that, lighting has always been my downfall with UE4, so I am going to take your advice and look at adding a skylight. Thank you for that.

Those are the default bombs and in this next version we have added power ups to the game. The following power-ups now exist:

Bouncy Bomb - this bomb has a longer fuse, less friction, and is thrown harder. So the bounce of the bomb becomes much more eratic and can really catch your opponents out.
Cluster Bomb - when this bomb explodes, it creates 4 more cluster bomblets, when each one of these cluster bomblets explode they crate four more smaller cluster bomblets. This is pretty deadly and the covers a wide area with diminishing damage the smaller the bombs get.
Incendiary Bomb - when this bomb explodes, it covers an area in flames for a while. Anyone in the flames or running through the flames will take cumalitive damage the longer they are in the flames.
Smoke Bomb - this turns your dynamite in to a defensive weapon and can either surround you in smoke or can hide a nasty surprise for others who enter the smoke.

These are just a few of the power-ups we have working at the moment. We are also adding items in a future release that you can buy with the gold you earned in the game. This will include items like Bear Traps (turn your opponents in to a sitting duck) and Da Kannon (a turret that you place on the map). We are working on other ideas like a Battle Sheep, this is a Sheep that is battle hardened and magically defended, it carries bombs for you and will increase your Bomb and Dynamite count, there are other features of the Sheep but I will save that for another update.

At lot of these items are new ideas that have just been added, so the play test on Sunday will give us some more valuable information and we will be able to tweak things again and make changes again and hopefully iterate the game play to something that everyone can enjoy.

We have two items in this regard that can be used, one offensive and one defensive, these are as follows:

Bag’o’Bombs - this power-up gives you a rapid refresh rate on your bombs and you can throw a lot of bombs in succession.
Dash Ability - the players now have a dash ability linked to their Stamina. This allows you to rapidly get in to our out of trouble but your can’t drop dynamite or throw bombs while in dash mode.

Thanks for this idea, this might actually be a good idea. I would like to use this idea and create an item called Suicide Trousers that you can buy with the gold. If you have this you can detonate yourself at any time and take out a few opponents based on distance to you.

Thanks for the feedback and hopefully I have provided some more insight to the game and the early videos. The current video was very early game play and we literally used that to make sure the core mechanics were working. It was from that play test that we started to come up with all the extra items mentioned in this post.

The nice thing is that now we have a solid base framework to work off and we have built the weapons, items, and power ups in such a way that we can tweak them and get them balanced.

We are also at the stage now that the game is accessible to more people because of the graphics settings system, our sound guy could not get his fiance to play the game on her laptop, with the new system she is now able to play it. 8-}

We used a modified version of Persistent Graphics Menu … definitely worth the moola. 8-}

Finally, because we are not subject to the whims of the Bean Counters, we are able to adapt and change things as and when the community of players (that will hopefully grow) needs us to. So please, feel free to comment, add suggestions (full credit will be given for ideas used) and most importantly enjoy. 8-}

The next version v0.5.0.0 will be hitting the server on Sunday (10th May 2015) at around 12:00 GMT+2. Please wait for that version before trying the game out … it will be a better experience.

Thanks again for the feedback.

qdelpeche · May 9, 2015, 5:44pm

Evening, we are still on schedule for the v0.5.0.0 release tomorrow and I am hoping this release will be a whole lot more fun to play and players can start seeing where we want to go with this game.

In the interim, I am releasing the first draft of the game manual … our proof-reader (or Keeper of the Words as we like to call her) is still going over it and I will update the document when I receive the new update from her.

You can get a copy of the game manual here: Game Manual

qdelpeche · May 10, 2015, 4:51pm

Update: 10th May 2015

The game is currently still in Alpha and we have just released v0.7.0.3, see this post for more information.

This release includes the following features:

DONE - Victory Condition - Gold
DONE - Dash Ability
DONE - Power Up - Bag’o’Bombs
DONE - Power Up - Incendiary Bomb
DONE - Power Up - Smoke Screen
DONE - Power Up - Bouncy Bomb
DONE - Power Up - Cluster Bomb
DONE - GUI Tweaks and Updates
DONE - HUD Tweaks and Updates

I had to remove some of the other features as I ran out of time and didn’t want to delay the release.

Please note that there is a minor issue with this release. Using the HOST function in the game doesn’t allow the Power-up Potions to spawn. Please execute the dedicated server executable (Server.exe) in the main Kaboom Arena and then join to to the IP Address using the JOIN function in the game.

I am working on a fix for this.

The game currently has a 50 gold victory condition built in, once that victory condition is achieved, all players will be notified and the game server will restart the map to begin another round.

I have a dedicated server running if you want to play, drop me a message and I will send you the IP.

Please provide feedback through the usual channels.

qdelpeche · May 11, 2015, 5:31pm

Update: 11th May 2015
We have fixed the issue in the previous release.

The game is currently still in Alpha and we have just released v0.7.0.3, see this post for more information.

qdelpeche · May 30, 2015, 2:19pm

Update: 30th May 2015

I am happy to announce that v0.6.0.0 of Kaboom Arena has been released.

This release includes the following changes:

Brand new user interface that is easier to read than the previous one and fits in properly with the colour scheme of the game.
The ability to find games on-line using the new Game Flow web service.
The ability to report hosted games to the new Game Flow web service.
All players and servers are now allocated a GUID if they don’t have one.
The Pillars are now generated as part of the main arena floor and this should overcome some of the player de-sync issues we were experiencing. This is also going to allow us to have bots in the next release.
The potion spawning has now been optomised in preparation for the new arena in the next release.
Some SFX and VFX changes provided to us by Karl Muller.
Linux server and client support … yay … finally. 8-}

The game currently has a 50 gold victory condition built in, once that victory condition is achieved, all players will be notified and the game server will restart the map to begin another round.

A dedicated server will be operational for the entire window of this release, if you would like to host your own, please contact me and I will send you instructions on how to get your server ready to support the Game Flow web service.

The game is currently still in Alpha and we have just released v0.7.0.3, see this post for more information.

Please provide feedback through the usual channels.

qdelpeche · June 11, 2015, 4:19am

Update: 11th June 2015

I am happy to announce that v0.6.1.0 of Kaboom Arena has been released.

This release includes the following changes:

Fix for client desync under certain circumstances.
Fix for hard shadows on the Main Menu and Arena level.

The game is currently still in Alpha and we have just released v0.7.0.3, see this post for more information.

Please provide feedback through the usual channels.

qdelpeche · June 17, 2015, 7:08am

Update: 17th June 2015
Version 0.6.3.0 is now ready for download.

[MIGRATED] Code to version 4.8 of Unreal Engine.
[REMOVED] Old debug arena blueprint.
[REMOVED] Old blueprints no longer being used.
[REMOVED] Loot spawning from the level blueprint.
[REMOVED] Some files from being tracked by version control.
[CHANGED] Players now collide with each other again.
[CHANGED] Players now collide with bombs and dynamite again.
[FIXED] Error being displayed when the project is opened in the editor.
[FIXED] Linux build on 4.8.

The game is currently still in Alpha and we have just released v0.7.0.3, see this post for more information.

Please provide feedback through the usual channels.

qdelpeche · July 9, 2015, 4:55am

Update: 9th July 2015
While we are preparing the v0.7.0.0 release of the game we have been working on a few outside areas of the game.

Our website has been updated and will now work much better on mobile phones and other smart devices: http://www.kaboomarena.com/

Our forums are now operational and you can contact the developers and participate in the process by joining us at: http://forum.kaboomarena.com/

We have posted our first blog explaining how we came up with the concept and why we chose the name and went ahead with the concept, you can read the blog here.

We are also busy finalising the next release (v0.7.0.0) which will include a host of updates and some new features. We are also including our first game mode called KaBAAboom … it has something to do with Sheep … that is all I am saying. 8-}