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[duburlan]

Hi, guys!

Let me present my game, which I have been developing during my lonely evenings in a small town of Juelich (Germany), where I also worked on my diploma project in the research centre. This game is saturated with pain and suffering, since working on two projects and struggling with a supervisor which thinks the diploma project is a big big part of your life - is a hard job.

Game description

In the game, the player uses MW-gun and blind corners to breach the guarding system and complete the level. Guards are MOTs (mounted guards) and PATs (patrolling guards). MOTs are mounted on walls and guard a given corner. PATs patrol a given path. Both guards have sensors and weapons. Once a stranger is seen or heard, they start recognition process, giving the player a chance to flee. If recognition completes, guard starts attacking the stranger, giving it a tiny chance to flee.

To disable a guard, the Burglar fires the MW-gun at them. MW-gun has two modes: normal and powerful. In normal mode it slowly consumes battery charge, resulting in weaker MW-radiation. Normal mode is used to interfere the sensor of a guard, which gives the player a chance to be unrecognised. In powerful mode, MW-gun fires a bunch of MW-radiation and completely brings down a guard, but in cost of higher charge loss. Once battery is down, there is a MW-station to charge up.

This is a non-commercial project, aimed to demonstrate my gameplay programming skills (I'm sorry for bad graphics). The majority of gameplay is implemented in C++, save AI logic and some Blueprint prototypes.

You can access the project on GitHub and check out demo-videos on YouTube channel.





The original motivation of this project is to use it as a portfolio to get a job in the game development industry, since approximately one year ago I decided I want to create games rather to do science (for some people, who didn't do science, it sounds weird). Recently I finished my university and achieved an engineer-physicist. Now I'm looking for a job, so if you know somebody (who knows somebody), who needs a C++ gameplay programmer - here am I, ready to go =D

Since this game is now a part of me, I want to improve it as long as I can and I know that TIGForums is a place where many skilled people dwell, so please comment and criticise!

If you or I can help each other, please contact me under
alievk91{at}gmail.com
or find me in LinkedIn.

[Quicksand-S]

Is there a pre-compiled version to download?

Also, a few screenshots added to your post would likely get people more interested.

[duburlan]

Thanks for the advice!
I have precompiled version, but it is about ~700mb. Maybe it's too heavy for some people, so I'm working on reducing the size of it. I also constantly keep improving the gameplay (at the moment I'm developing leaning against walls and peeking out of corners), so I would like to share the binaries a bit later. But if there are people who want try it like it is, I could share it with them =)

A few screenshots:

[Quicksand-S]

If you're just showing off your work-in-progress without an executable to download, then this might be better suited to the Devlogs forum for the time being.

700mb is smaller than some games I've seen on this site. I'd say that if you do want to let people try the current version, just put the size up front and let people decide if they want to go for it. I'd like to try it, although I'm not sure how well my old computer would handle it. Any idea what the approximate system requirements might be?

[duburlan]

One can adjust rendering quality in the config files. However, the posted screenshot were made on my laptop with Intel Core i5 2.3GHz, 8GB RAM and NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M. In this case, Fraps indicates 18 FPS.

I will upload the precompiled version in the near future.

[duburlan]

This is the precompiled version (360mb). If you try it, please tell me your PC specs and FPS of the game.

Thank you!

[Quicksand-S]

My specs: Windows 7 64-bit, i7 2.67GHz, NVIDIA GTX 285 and 6GB RAM.

According to FRAPS, I get 51fps at the start and it goes down to around 45 once I move out into the level a bit. That was better than I expected. Update: My fans started going crazy after just sitting there a while, so I looked at the frame-rate and it had gone down to 45 at the entrance. Not sure why.

Anyway, here are some comments:

-It was unclear what my "gun" was meant to do. It didn't seem to have any effect on anything, whether powered-up or not.

-You can shoot when dead.

-The camera goes into walls slightly.

-It's annoying that things see me almost instantly, even if they weren't looking in my direction at all.

-If my weapon has a limited range, it's hard to tell what that is.

-Based on the video: When turrets are affected by my weapon, maybe the light should change color. Erratic movement might not be as noticeable if the player is close.


Any plans to add more movement abilities? In stealth games where I have to move quickly, it can be nice to be able to slide/roll/dive into a hiding spot.

I went and read through your description to see what I was missing. I never managed to get past the second turret because it always just spotted me and shot me down before I could reach the doorway. Firing the gun at the turrets does not confuse their sensors at all. I did what was in the video. Firing normally did nothing. Powering up and firing also did nothing. I tried different distances, but never noticed any effect whatsoever. Any thoughts on why it works for you and not for me?

[duburlan]

Hi Quicksand!

Thank you for your time. Unreal Engine 4 is a powerful engine, but at the moment its not very polished, so that's normal that your fans go crazy when you run it Anyway, I would like to comment your notes relevant to the gameplay system:

-It's very strange the gun didn't affect the turrets. I run the same version of the game I shared and it works good. Other people also report it working. If I could watch a video how you play..

-Actually, the guards see you if you fall into there peripheral view zone, but at the moment this view zone is not rendered (I'm thinking about how to do it in a better way). Also, the guards can "hear" you, if you run nearby and became alert.

-The gun has a limited range, but the idea is to set the range to the minimal value that allows the player to complete the level. Do you have any ideas how to show the range to the player?

-It was hard to decide how to let the player know a guard is disabled (in the normal mode). Maybe changing the color of lights is a solution, but it seem boring to me, you don't think so? Maybe apply some crazy rotation/movement to the bodies of the guard?

I have scheduled a couple of new movement abilities to develop. Amongst them are leaning against walls, running from corner to corner (like in Deus Ex) and crawling. To create more, I need an animator who would create appropriate animation for a new movement ability, but at the moment I work solely and am limited to what I have.

[Quicksand-S]

-It's very strange the gun didn't affect the turrets. I run the same version of the game I shared and it works good. Other people also report it working. If I could watch a video how you play..

I just gave it another try and it's working now. Weird. I did the same thing as before (round the corner and fire), but this time it made the spotlight go crazy as it should. Before, it never did that no matter what I tried.

I still can't get the turret to fall off the wall, but I imagine I'm misunderstanding something. When I power up and then release the button, I get a burst of energy (which does nothing). When I power up and press Fire, I get my normal weapon but maybe it's more powerful? In either case, nothing destructive occurs, so I think I'm doing it wrong.

-The gun has a limited range, but the idea is to set the range to the minimal value that allows the player to complete the level. Do you have any ideas how to show the range to the player?

Well, the simplest way I can think of at the moment would be to make the crosshair change in some way when whatever it is on top of is in range.

On a related note, and this is just my personal opinion, I feel like either battery power should be limited or range should be limited, not both. Range is probably the safer one to limit because players don't know in advance how much battery power to save for upcoming challenges. It's a pain to encounter a challenge you can't get through because, not being psychic, you used a little too much power earlier without realizing you'd need it.

-It was hard to decide how to let the player know a guard is disabled (in the normal mode). Maybe changing the color of lights is a solution, but it seem boring to me, you don't think so? Maybe apply some crazy rotation/movement to the bodies of the guard?

I haven't seen the guards yet, since I always got killed by the second gun and haven't played further than that yet. Anyway, disabled enemies could go dark, change light color, spark, spin or do practically anything as long as it's noticeably different from the norm. You've got a lot of options there.

[duburlan]

I'm happy that now it works! To get the mot/pat fall, you have to press RMB and wait until "MW"-label appears on the battery (full power), than aim mot/pat and release the button. You have to see blue waves coming out of the gun.

Thank you for your opinion, I appreciate that. Keep giving feedback and I will keep improving the game

[Quicksand-S]

Hmm...This seems really finicky. I made the first gun fall off the wall once, but when I did the same thing for the second gun, it just killed me. Maybe it's just an issue with me being out of range, but if that's the case then the range is a lot shorter than I'd expect and requires me to cross open spaces where I'm likely to get shot...

I also find that these guns can usually kill me even while they're supposedly disabled (their light is moving erratically). I'm not sure they should be shooting in that state. I'm usually dead or down to 25hp before I reach the first bit of cover. I was actually having more luck yesterday just running by without disabling it, which seems pretty weird.

[duburlan]

Hmm...This seems really finicky. I made the first gun fall off the wall once, but when I did the same thing for the second gun, it just killed me. Maybe it's just an issue with me being out of range, but if that's the case then the range is a lot shorter than I'd expect and requires me to cross open spaces where I'm likely to get shot...

This is a little puzzle you have to solve: the given battery charge is enough only for one dead-shot, so to pass the corridor you have to save the charge for the second turret and use normal mode to pass the first turret, like on the video.

I also find that these guns can usually kill me even while they're supposedly disabled (their light is moving erratically). I'm not sure they should be shooting in that state. I'm usually dead or down to 25hp before I reach the first bit of cover. I was actually having more luck yesterday just running by without disabling it, which seems pretty weird.

I checked the gun and yes, its range is not enough to disable the first turret from the first cover. But if you take the shortest trajectory to the cover, you can easily save 100hp. It's also true that I have a bug with turret firing in confused state. It happens if you re-aim a turret. I will take it into account.

Thank you for the feedback!

[Quicksand-S]

This is a little puzzle you have to solve: the given battery charge is enough only for one dead-shot, so to pass the corridor you have to save the charge for the second turret and use normal mode to pass the first turret, like on the video.

So this is more of a trial-and-error puzzle game than a stealth game? I'm not sure I like the sound of that (the trial-and-error part), but I guess it'll appeal to some people more than others.

I'm a little confused by the battery charge. The power meter shows that I have enough for two powered-up shots, not just one. The second was just completely ineffective, but I was still powered up with "M W" showing.

[duburlan]

I want it to became stealth-action game with elements of puzzle. Ideally, I would like it not to be trial-and-error game, but it is a matter of further polishing with help of testers feedback. The main task at the moment is to build the basis of the gameplay system: add new abilities to the player, add new items to the game scene, improve AI of the NPCs and so on.

I'm a little confused by the battery charge. The power meter shows that I have enough for two powered-up shots, not just one. The second was just completely ineffective, but I was still powered up with "M W" showing.

Actually, "MW"-light tells you accumulated maximum energy you can shoot at once. But the charge necessary to bring a guard down is >50% of the initial charge you have in the battery. Yes, it's confusing, I will work on it.

Did you have a chance to test patrolling guards?

[Quicksand-S]

Did you have a chance to test patrolling guards?

If you mean the flying robots, yeah. It took a few more tries, because that first gun shooting me while disabled almost always leaves me with low health.

I find that it feels a bit unnatural to use one mouse button by clicking and the other by releasing. I keep wanting to use the left button to fire my charged-up attack.

I was really hoping that wall charger would be a checkpoint...

The flying robots seemed fine, although I didn't really spend much time around them. I had one spot me at the charger (which I thought would be a safe area), so I had to take it out right away. The other one didn't get near me, and I died to that turret at the far end of the room. After that, I really didn't want to deal with the first room again. It seems almost entirely random whether I get past that first gun with full health, 25 health, or don't get past it at all. I don't enjoy that, so I haven't gone back to play any more since dying in that second area.

If the charger did act as a checkpoint, I think that would help a lot. I'm also looking forward to trying a version later that doesn't let disabled guns fire at me.

[duburlan]

You gave lot's of feedback.

I hope to show an update in 1-2 weeks. Keep in touch!

[duburlan]

Hi guys!

Long time no see. I have made a prototype of a cover taking system for my game MicroWave. While creating the system, I kept in mind an idea to minimize routine work, like manually defining the walls where the avatar can lean. Check out the video:

MicroWave: Cover Taking System Prototype