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Alpha [udsh v0.1.893] [pre-alpha] - platformer MOBA in the making

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Ampersand

Guest
Hi all!

My name is Ampersand, and I'm a long-time member of the Game Maker Community. I've been working with Game Maker on a hobby basis (maybe averaging a couple hundred hours per year or so) since GM 6.1. Recently, I've poured a lot more time into presenting myself with challenges to be completed inside Studio. The result of this was zero games over the last year, but a lot of fresh techniques and perspectives for ideas I've been mulling over for quite some time.

Enough babbling, have some eye-candy:

My goal is to explore the viability of a 2D platformer team combat game with RPG elements and a very heavy emphasis on map flow and macro/teamplay. I loved Awesomenauts and the unique inherent characteristics of a sidescrolling MOBA compared to a 3D/RTS MOBA, but always find it very casual and not as rewarding as other games in the genre due to the pace and lack of focus on teamplay and synergy. My current vision is to create a fast-paced PVP arena mode where you can show off loot and use rare collectibles that couples with a Diablo-like dungeon crawling mode that could be played by yourself or with friends. I'd like to make a fun co-op experience where you can fight hordes of enemies and full-screen bosses with your buddies, then beat them down in the arena with the sweet legendary item you received :)

Games that I think influence me most on this project are League of Legends, Castle Crashers, and Soldat. I want to make very risky, explosive, and fast-paced combat that offers the same reward of games with a longer reward timeline (games like Dota and LoL) where you either get punished or punish for an hour. I'd like to keep game time frames as close to twenty minutes as I can for all games on the curve, while also keeping decision-making and skilled play big factors throughout the whole game whether you're winning or losing. I long for those games of soldat where a long, decisive but also frantic, and often chaotic shootout ended in my death and yet I still was satisfied with the experience. Games like TF2 and Brink (while the servers actually had players) were also good with this. RPG, class strategy, action, coop, and pve elements all working in unison.

As of now, nothing is set in stone. I am still very early in the design stages of the engine, and everything is being coded with server-client based multiplayer modularity in mind.

So far major engine pieces include node-based pathfinding, lightweight combat AI, pixel perfect platforming with slopes, tile-based collisions, autotiling, coded and "smoothed" animations, persistent terrain changes, ragdolls (not represented in the video above), delta-timing, scaled physics (many things are simulated for accuracy and then given more iterations for prettiness), and more.

A demo will be released in the coming weeks that will be "fully playable". There will be two champs to play, each with their own AI, in 1v1 arena combat. Check back soon for the playable v0.2.0 demo drop :D

I appreciate all feedback and ideas!

Your friendly boolean operator,
Ampersand
 
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Ampersand

Guest
Today, inbetween sessions of reworking the ragdolls, I sketched a couple character concepts. My animation and ragdoll system is integrated in such a way that it's really easy to do different body types for different units. I'm excited to work with it more!
A witch that will be spell-defensive:

A slow bruiser/tank whose play will focus on creating barriers:

I'm excited to get a playable demo out soon!
 
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Nabil Kabour

Guest
Looks great! Any updates? Also ever consider an isometric MOBA?
 
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