SKYVIEW- ARCADE EDITION (2015)

A fast paced competitive deathmatch gamemode. Platform: PC Engine: Garry's Mod Role: Programmer / Designer Development: Jam (2015) [Short]

Description:

This was made as part of my team’s entry to a Facepunch user’s gamemode contest.  The contest lasted four weeks and was split into two phases; the gamemode phases and the DLC phase.  During the two week gamemode phase developers created a gamemode from scratch, using modular design practices to allow other users to easily create new content for it.  During the 2 week DLC phase developers then chose to work on some of the other gamemodes submitted to the first phase of the contest. Dungeon Crawler was the project we made during the gamemode phase.  Our team then worked on DLC for another developer’s gamemode “SkyView” during the DLC phase, creating SkyView: Arcade Edition.

The original SkyView gamemode was a simple deathmatch in which players could shoot each other with props or shield themselves from oncoming props.  After play testing all of the submitted gamemodes the team agreed that SkyView was the most raw fun, and also had the most opportunities for additional content.  We’d been playing the Mann Power mode of Team Fortress 2 and loving the grapple hook, so we choose to combine the two gamemodes.  We also decided pretty early on that there should be over the top announcements similar to those found in Unreal Tournament (example).  The grapple hook we implemented was made to fire and reel in a lot faster, which created emergent gameplay such as being able to grapple another player’s shield; wrenching it away and leaving them open to attack.

• Extended gameplay design; grapple hooks, announcer, stat tracking
• Grapple hook implementation
• Stat Tracking system; number of jumps, deaths, kills, grapples
• Advanced tracking to allow for skilled tricks (i.e. leap frogging; grappling a prop towards yourself & then jumping over it at the last moment)
• Round system
• HUD; score counter, stat/event toast notifications
• Announcer lines (1 of 3 versions of all lines)