Hello everyone! As a personal project in my spare time I’m developing a prototype of a first-person action game, project codename is Citizen Pain.
Here is a prototype on enemy mechanics. In the video I show some of the progress I made last month:
Added Lunge attack, triggers as a running attack;
Added Wild Swinging attack, as a follow-up to Lunge attack;
Added Hit Blocked Stun, a state in which the enemy’s hit is blocked by the player;
Enemy Hit animation;
This month I started making a greybox of the first map. I was inspired by the Boletaria level from Demon’s Souls, trying to understand how the gameplay mechanics are integrated into the level design.
What a great set of beginning videos. There’s already a ton of detail and a lot of hints about how the game will look. Those little hints seem super exciting and rather pirate-y. Great work so far
Is this going to be a dungeon crawler/boss fighter type game?
Thanks so much for sharing and I can’t wait for the next update!
Yes, I am including some dungeon crawler mechanics (so exploration and avoid traps are part of the game). Level design is one of the aspects I’m focusing on the most along with the combat mechanics.
I’m giving more priority to the regular enemy encounters, but it is in my plans to include at least one boss fight.
I added more rooms and passages, almost completed the stairwell leading to the first shortcut to the beginning of the level.
Added stairs, torches to illuminate dark areas, bridges, obstacles, and dangerous bridges without barriers where the player can risk falling if not careful about spacing during fighting.
Also in the greybox I am careful to make sure that the weenies are visible (the starting point, various buildings etc.).
Not barely halfway to the planned level, but I am already very happy with the result.
Thank you for using this space to showcase your devlog. It shows how different mechanics are involved, each lending their parts into the making of a complete game.
Is the level you’re currently working on intended to be a castle? A fort? A dungeon? Does falling mean death or just starting at the level at which you landed?
Great work thus far! We’re so happy to be along for Citizen Pain’s development journey!
Glad you like the title! Actually I wasn’t sure if it was a good title (a working title for now) but if many people like it I might leave it at that
The level will be a castle. I’m working on adding a lot of areas (both outdoors and indoors), with a lot of rooms and corridors. The idea is to incentivize exploration to unlock secrets.
You get damage from high falls, and if the height is too high the player will die.
Thank you again for the encouragement, I hope to post interesting stuff as much as possible!
This week I continued to work on the level design.
I’m probably more than halfway through the planned level. I finished the second tower with the stairwell, and I had quite a bit of fun putting in areas with columns, torches to illuminate and guide the player, put in various props like barrels and boxes as obstacles and to make the room more interesting, and even a couple of balconies.
Also this month I plan to continue the level greybox.
I am building the second part of the level, where it will rejoin the starting point via a shortcut. I think I’ve gotten better at greyboxing. I’m hurrying a little bit and probably I am a little less consistent with the placement of props (barrels, crates etc.) so some rooms may seem a little more empty.
When I finish the greybox I’ll have to place enemies and to set some traps, it will be a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to it, but for now I have to focus on finishing the level.
This past week I continued the greybox level design. I got to the final stages of my greyboxing, where all I need to finish is the boss room, and then I’ll move on to iterate on the layout and enemy positioning.
I had fun making a very large hall with columns, made a bridge, put a last tower with stairs where it takes you back to the beginning of the level (and to the boss area), and place the usual lights to guide the player.
Also in Unreal Engine thanks to Lumen is very convenient to be able to see the bounce of lights in dark areas right away, without having to do the usual slow bake lighting of static lights.
I also had to move a whole portion of the level to get the last tower to be near a particular area, but the fact that each room is a Group actor (each room is a group of walls, floors, lights and props), moving each room is like moving Lego blocks, it’s very modular, and it took me just 5 minutes.
This past week I continued with greyboxing level design, completing the boss room.
I started placing enemies in the map. To test the mechanics of the enemies, I am recreating the Boletaria level from Demon Souls. I put in Navmesh and redid some stairs, as they were too tall and narrow and the default Navmesh would not take them (I made them at least 100cm wide and 0.25 high). I positioned the enemies and tweaked their sight radius (some enemies should not trigger from a distance, so as to catch the enemy off guard for example).
Next step will be to create destructible props so it can hide behind various things (enemies, secret passages, traps etc.)
Placed destructibles in the level. Also implemented a simple enemy logic: if the enemy has an obstacle in front, the enemy must destroy it with an attack. Simple and effettive.
You’ve made such progress over these past weeks! The scale of this castle is immense! It’s certainly worthy of the epic battles to come!
I must compliment you on the player’s beautiful sword! It’s so beautiful and detailed that I can see the intricate fleur-de-lis design in the golden hilt. The reflecting metal of the blade and shield are remarkable, as well as the wood texture of the shield. You’ve set the standard for high-quality textures to be used throughout your levels.
It was a great idea to include the balconies. It gives the player a sense of where they are in the castle and a break from a certain monotony that is easy to experience in castle builds. I’m so excited to see how Citizen Pain progresses!
Thus far, what is the number one thing that you’ve learned that you had not known when you first started this project?
@Get_DOVAH_it Thank you! I want to make the castle very large, so as to encoure the player to explore. For the sword I have to thank Prop Garden LLC for the beautiful Free Fantasy Weapon Sample Pack!
Glad you like the inclusion of the balconies, as you mentioned I like them because they let you know where you are and then you can see the various weenies in the level so you don’t get lost.
So far between greyboxing and prototypical mechanics, there aren’t any particular things I didn’t know before I started the project, maybe because I’m still in the simple first stages of the project, but I’m sure I’ll find some difficult things that I’ll have to work out, and some Unreal features I didn’t know about will save me!
It’s so beautiful and detailed that I can see the intricate fleur-de-lis design in the golden hilt. The reflecting metal of the blade and shield are remarkable, as well as the wood texture of the shield. You’ve set the standard for high-quality textures to be used throughout your levels. 