super rad!

An action PLATFORMER SHOOTER

'SUPER RAD!' is a 2D ACTION PLATFORMER game THAT WAS TARGETED for pc AND CONSOLE platforms.

THIS PROJECT WAS A SMALL TEAM PROJECT CREATED UNDER MY BRAND COMPANY, EPIC TORTOISE STUDIOS. tHE TEAM CONSISTED OF MYSELF, ONE PROGRAMMER, AND ONE ARTIST.

unfortunately, this project has been postponed and is being CONVERTED FROM THE PLATFORMER GENRE TO THE TOP-DOWN GENRE.

MY RESPONSIBILITIES ON THIS PROJECT have INCLUDED...

PRODUCER
GAME DESIGN
LEVEL DESIGN
GAME MECHANICS
Technical Design

WEAPON MECHANICS!

tHE PROBLEM: WITH SO MANY ACTION PLATFORMER GAMES FLOODING THE STORES, HOW COULD WE MAKE 'SUPER RAD!' UNIQUE AND APPEALING?

MY SOLUTION: I WANTED THE PLAYER TO BE ABLE TO CONTROL TWO WEAPONS AT THE SAME TIME, HOWEVER, THE WEAPONS COULD ONLY SHOOT IN THE DIRECTION THEY WERE BEING HELD IN. eX: A WEAPON IN THE LEFT HAND CAN ONLY SHOOT TO THE LEFT OF THE SCREEN.

USING THIS MECHANIC, I NEEDED TO MAKE IT CLEAR TO THE PLAYER THAT THE WEAPON CAN ONLY SHOOT IN THAT DIRECTION. TO ACCOMPLISH THIS GOAL, I ASSOCIATED THE INPUTS FOR SHOOTING EACH WEAPON WITH THE CORRESPONDING INPUT ON THE MOUSE OR GAMEPAD. EX: IF THE PLAYER USED THE LEFT MOUSE BUTTON OR TRIGGER ON THE GAMEPAD, THE LEFT WEAPON WOULD SHOOT. SAME FOR THE RIGHT SIDE USING THE RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON AND RIGHT TRIGGER ON THE GAMEPAD.

I ALSO ADDED A MECHANIC WHERE THE PLAYER COULD THROW THEIR WEAPON IN THE DIRECTION THEY WOULD BE SHOOTING. THIS WAS AN IDEA BYPRODUCT OF SWITCHING WEAPONS. THE THROWN WEAPON ACTED AS A THROWN PROJECTILE AND STILL DEALT DAMAGE TO ENEMIES.

DURING PLAYTESTS, THIS MECHANIC GOT MIXED REVIEWS. PLAYERS WERE CONCERNED ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED IF THEY RAN OUT OF AMMO AND IF THERE WERE NO WAY TO KILL ENEMIES. tHIS WAS A DESIGN FEATURE THAT DIDN'T GET IMPLEMENTED QUICK ENOUGH FOR THE PLAYTESTS TO REALLY GET THE IDEA TO THE PLAYER.

I ALSO NOTICED THAT MANY PLAYERS DIDN'T REALIZE THEY COULD PICK UP TWO WEAPONS AT THE SAME TIME. THIS WAS DUE TO NO TUTORIAL ADDED TO THE PLAYTEST BUILD.

THE LACK OF FUN SOME PLAYTESTERS HAD WITH THIS MECHANIC IS A LARGE REASON FOR THE GENRE SWITCH FOR THIS TITLE.

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PLAYER MOBILITY!

the problem: THE ENEMIES DESIGNED FOR THIS PROJECT WERE VERY QUICK MOVING AND SHOT MANY PROJECTILES SIMILAR TO A BULLET-HELL TYPE OF GAME. HOW CAN WE GIVE THE PLAYER SOME MOBILITY THROUGHOUT THE LEVEL SO THAT THEY AREN'T STUCK OR CONFINED IN SMALL AREAS OF THE MAP?

My solution: I LOOKED AT SOME OLDER EXAMPLES OF 2D PLATFORMERS AND EXPLORED THEIR MOVEMENT TECHNIQUES FOR THE PLAYER. THE SCREEN WRAPPING IN THE ORIGINAL MARIO BROS GAME WAS SOMETHING THAT I FELT WOULD GIVE THE PLAYER LOTS OF ROOM TO MOVE AND AVOID THE BULLET-HELLESQUE ENVIRONMENT THAT WE WERE CULTIVATING. I SET CERTAIN AREAS OF EACH MAP TO HAVE THE ABILITY TO SCREEN WRAP TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SCREEN. TO KEEP THE DIFFICULTY FAIR, I DECIDED TO ALLOW THE PROJECTILES TO ALSO HAVE SCREEN WRAPPING TO KEEP THE PLAYER ON THEIR TOES.

DURING PLAYTESTS, WE GOT GREAT REVIEWS ON THIS MECHANIC AS IT ADDED THE MUCH-NEEDED MOBILITY ASPECT FOR THE PLAYER.

LEVEL UP SYSTEM!

the problem: 'SUPER RAD!' WAS BUILT TO HAVE RPG ELEMENTS AS WELL TO KEEP IT UNIQUE. HOW CAN WE MAKE THE LEVELLING SYSTEM DIFFERENT THAN THE TRADITIONAL SYSTEMS?

My solution: I DECIDED TO KEEP THE BASE OF THE TRADITIONAL LEVELING SYSTEMS IN THIS GAME, WITH COLLECTING EXPERIENCE WHEN AN ENEMY IS SLAIN. HOWEVER, INSTEAD OF GAINING A SKILL POINT TO PURCHASE AN ENHANCEMENT, I USED THE LEVELS GAINED AS THE CURRENCY TO PURCHASE THE ENHANCEMENT. AFTER A MAP IS COMPLETED, THE PLAYER IS TAKEN TO A SHOPKEEPER SCENE WHERE THEY CAN PURCHASE AN ENHANCED ITEM. IF THE PLAYER IS ONLY AT LEVEL 3 AND WANTS TO PURCHASE AN ITEM THAT COSTS 4 LEVELS, THEY AREN'T ABLE TO BUY IT. IF A PLAYER HAS 3 LEVELS AND PURCHASES AN ITEM THAT IS WORTH 2 LEVELS, THEN THEIR NEW LEVEL IS 1 AND THEY WILL START THE NEXT MAP AS LEVEL 1 AND BUILD FROM THERE.

THIS MECHANIC WAS COMPLETED BEFORE THE GENRE SWITCH AND GOT GREAT REVIEWS IN PLAYTESTS.

LEVEL DESIGN!

The problem: I NEEDED TO ENSURE THE PLAYER CAN MOVE THROUGHOUT THE LEVEL WITH EASE AND NOT HAVE UNNECESSARY OBSTACLES BLOCKING THEIR PATHS, AS WELL AS BLOCKING AI PATHS.

My solution: THIS PROBLEM WAS EXTREMELY FUN TO SOLVE, AS I HAD NEVER USED UNITY TILEMAPS BEFORE. I STARTED WITH SKETCHING OUT MAP IDEAS IN MY GRIDDED NOTEBOOK. I WAS ABLE TO SET IT UP TO HAVE THE EXACT SAME GRID SIZE AS THE TEMPLATE LEVEL I CREATED. I DREW IN SOME PLATFORMER BOXES AND CREATED CLEAR PATHS FOR THE SCREEN WRAPPING. ONCE THAT WAS COMPLETED, I TRANSFERRED THAT INFORMATION TO THE PROJECT AND PAINTED IN THE PLATFORM ASSETS, AND ADDED COLLIDERS TO THEM FOR THE PLAYER TO BE ABLE TO JUMP ON. I THEN ADDED MULTIPLE DIFFERENT BACKGROUND LAYERS TO ADD DEPTH TO ENVIRONMENTAL OBJECTS TO MAKE THE LEVELS FEEL MORE REALISTIC.

WEAPON DESIGN!

The problem: 'SUPER RAD!' WAS DESIGNED TO HAVE A VERY LARGE QUANTITY OF WEAPONS FOR THE PLAYER TO ENJOY. I NEEDED TO IMPROVE THE WORKFLOW OF WEAPON CREATION TO NOT SLOW DOWN THE OVERALL DEVELOPMENT CYCLE.

My solution: I ORIGINALLY HAD THE WEAPON DATA STORED IN A SCRIPTABLE OBJECT FOR EACH NEW WEAPON, BUT WHEN I WAS ABLE TO OBTAIN HELP FROM A PROGRAMMER, HE REDESIGNED THE WEAPON SYSTEM TO FIT IN A COUPLE OF COMPONENTS THAT I COULD ATTACH TO THE WEAPON AND EDIT ALL THE IMPORTANT INFORMATION, LIKE PROJECTILE SPEED, DAMAGE, AMMO COST, ETC. HE ALSO ADDED THE ABILITY TO ADD EVENTS TO THE WEAPONS ON EQUIP, SHOOTING, ETC.

HAVING THIS NEW SYSTEM CREATED I WAS ABLE TO CREATE A TEMPLATE PREFAB OF A WEAPON AND CREATE A BRAND NEW WEAPON IN A MATTER OF SECONDS. ALL THAT WAS NEEDED WAS TO SWITCH THE SPRITES AND TWEAK THE DATA AND A WHOLE NEW WEAPON WAS CREATED. I COULD ALSO CHANGE THE PROJECTILE PREFAB EASILY.

This project was an idea that I conceptualized and wanted to bring to reality as I thought the ACTION PLATFORMER GENRE lacked a type of game like this. My main idea was to take games that I enjoyed growing up and mesh them together and see what would be made. I chose THE ORIGINAL MARIO BROS and CONTRA for those games, WHILE TRYING TO ADD A LEVEL OF NOSTALGIA USING RETRO AESTHETICS.

During the course of development on this project, I learned many things about PLAYER ENGAGEMENT, AS THIS WHOLE PROJECT WAS A TEST TO CREATE AND PUSH NEW MECHANICS in AN OVERPOPULATED GENRE. I DEFINITELY LEARNED THAT EARLY IN THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS, A CLEAR TUTORIAL IS NEEDED TO INFORM THE PLAYER OF HOW YOU EXPECT THE GAME TO BE PLAYED, AS OPPOSED TO EXPECTING THEM TO JUST KNOW WHAT THE DEVELOPERS' INTENTIONS ARE.

I REALLY ENJOYED CREATING THE LEVEL ENVIRONMENTS TO KEEP THE PLAYER FEELING LIKE THEY WERE IN A REALISTIC AREA, AS WELL AS STREAMLINING THE WEAPON CREATION PROCESS. FIGURING THAT OUT WAS MONUMENTAL TO THE DEVELOPMENT CYCLE AND IS BEING UTILIZED IN OTHER PROJECTS.

THIS VERSION OF THE PROJECT IS CURRENTLY POSTPONED, HOWEVER, THE STORY AND MANY OF THE MECHANICS ARE BEING TRANSLATED INTO A TOP-DOWN VERSION UNDER THE SAME NAME.