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[Wilson Saunders]

Contest Version Here:
http://www.monkeydev.com/unity/lance/index.html

This Game was made with the assistance of:
Sam (Joo) Son: 2D and 3D Art
Beto Cabral: Audio

Against my better judgment I am throwing my battered helmet into the ring. My game idea is reinventing the sport of polo with jet bikes and power lances. Oh and carnage, lots and lots of rag doll style carnage. The current game design looks like this:
 
There are two teams of jet bike riders which spawn at opposite ends of the arena with a ball in the center.
The jet bike riders have power lances which they can use to punch whatever is in front of them. Power lances must be charged for half a second to two seconds in order to deliver their punch. Charging the lance prevents the bike from accelerating (still will coast).
If the ball is hit with a power lance it flies away at greater speed than if it were just hit with the bike. If jet bike rider is hit with a power lance the rider is killed. Both rider and the bike go rag doll for a few seconds before being put back in their spawn point. Aside from time lost and relocation there is no penalty for death.
If the ball is put into a goal there will be much fan fair and the both teams will have seconds to inflict closing brutalities on each other before the arena is reset.
Winner is first team to 5 or when 10 minute timer runs out.
There may be a lumbering battle mech acting as goalie time permitting.

The player will control one jet bike rider from a 3rd person POV. A top bar radar will inform them where the ball and other players are relative to them. Controls will be left/right, accelerate/break, and charge lance(on release fires lance charge). Input can be from keyboard or game pad. There may be multi-player split screen time permitting time permitting.

Here the latest screen shot of what I have done so far:


Here is a link to the unity web player of my progress:
http://www.monkeydev.com/unity/lance/index.html

I am open to collaboration from 2d/3d artists. I am keeping the place holder graphics intentionally basic for now. I can generate my own art, but would rather spend my time coding. Reply to this thread or PM me if you are interested. Also see the list of art assets.

Old Screen Shot:

[Wilson Saunders]

Because I am an incredible organized person (Stop laughing) . I have made a deployment plan. There are three tracks Programming, Art, and Sound. I want to do most of the programming my self. I am capable of doing the art, but I know TIGSource is has much better artiest than I. Some of whom could lend a hand maybe? I also will not turn away offers to help with the sound.

Update 11/15/12: The very talented artist Sam (aka sonjool) is lending his talents to the cause. Look forward to seeing his work in the game.

Programming tasks:
Camera tracking (done)
Controllable bike (done)
Player control of bike (done)
Bike to ball interaction (done)
Bike physics bounce off walls (done)
GUI indicator of ball (done)
AI control of bike (done)
GUI indicator of other bikes(done)
Bike on bike interaction (done)
Lance/riding animation (deprecated)
Player control of lance (done)
Lance pickup ball (done)
Lance throw ball (done)
Lance kick ball (done)
Lance kick bike (done)
Ragdoll death activation (done)
dead biker reset (done)
Ball to goal interaction and Score tracking GUI (done)
Post goal game reset (done)
AI control of lance (deprecated)
AI react to ball carrier (deprecated)
End game conditions (done)
Main menu (done)
End game statistics (done)
AI mech goalie (deprecated)
Goalie interaction with ball (deprecated)
Goalie interaction with Enemy Jet bike. (deprecated)
Split screen 2 player VS (deprecated)
Split screen 2 player Coop (deprecated)

Art assets needed:
Jet bike mesh  (done by Son Joo)
Jet bike texture Blue team (done by Son Joo)
Jet bike texture Red team (done by Son Joo)
Arena mesh (done by Son Joo)
Arena texture Blue team (deprecated)
Arena texture Red team (deprecated)
Driver Mesh (done)
Driver Rigged (done)
Driver pose Driving, Pull Back, and Strike (code will tween)
Driver texture Blue team (done by Son Joo)
Driver texture Red team (done by Son Joo)
Main Menu Logo graphic (done by Son Joo)
Main Menu buttons for: single player, split screen VS, split screen Coop, quit.
Game over screen graphic (done by Son Joo)
Winner graphic (done by Son Joo)
Looser graphic (done by Son Joo)
Icons for Goal, Kill, and Death stats. (deprecated)
Goalie Mech mesh (deprecated)
Goalie Mech Rigged (deprecated)
Goalie Mech texture Blue team (deprecated)
Goalie Mech texture Red team (deprecated)
Goalie Mech animation: shuffle left, shuffle right, punch, grab and throw ball. (deprecated)
Other assets that would liven up the arena (artists discretion)

Sound assets:
Jet bike engine
Lance charging (deprecated)
Lance shooting (deprecated)
Ball bounce
Lance on ball strike
Lance on player strike
Spectator ambient
Spectator cheering
Announcer voice for events: Intro, Player Kill, Goal, Idle banter  (deprecated)
Mech move sounds (deprecated)
Mech Catch sound (deprecated)
Mech Punch sound (deprecated)
Additional Ambiance

[J. R. Hill]

Reminds me a bit of an old game called

.  That game heavily relied on a tethering mechanic that you can see in the video...

Anyway, super excited to see how this turns out!

[whilefun]

The title alone has me interested.

But reading further this sounds very cool. Do you plan to do have spectacular "water ski fail" type ragdoll impacts on the water and some sweet jet ski crashes? That'd even make losing fun. Something like a slow motion "Burnout Paradise" crash sequence kind of thing.

Anyway, looking forward to seeing progress

[Wilson Saunders]

Rag doll physics will be determined by Unity's physics engine, but the jet bikes are character controller type objects with a "Repulsion field" to effect rigid bodies. I plan on having a lance kill work buy switching the kinematic flag on the rigid bodies of the victim then letting the "repulsion field" of the bike fling them.

[Wilson Saunders]

I have added two teams of two bikes each. No lances yet but the game is playable. It would be nice if I could change out the place holder art with something cooler. Hint Hint. Now have an artist working with me.

Here is a new screen shot:


The playable link is in the first post.

[sonjool]

Hey I'm interested in working with you for the game. I can model non-organic things pretty well but I have no real experience in modeling characters.

http://sonjool.carbonmade.com/
http://coolsonjool.blogspot.com/

Here's my stuff. Let me know if you're interested.
Also, are the lances going to be separate thing or integrated into the hoverbike things?

[motorherp]

That's pretty cool, I enjoyed the demo.  I wouldn't worry too much about the placeholder graphics if you cant replace them, it kind of has a tron like charm this way anyway, just focus on the gameplay.  I think it would be helpful if the bikes had a slight scoop on the front to allow for a limited amount of ball control as long as you don't turn too sharply or get rammed.

[Wilson Saunders]

@sonjool
Game play wise the lance will only strike forward. Art wise I would like it attached to the humanoid rider which will be separate from the bike.

@motorherp
I played a game in an arcade much like this one where you could actually pick up the ball and other players could knock it out of your control. I don't want to copy it too closely, but I agree with you, a bit more ball control would add to the play experience. Unfortunately I would have to program more complexity into the AI. right now the AI has two behaviors: line up to ram the ball and ram the ball.

[Wilson Saunders]

Here is a concept sketch of the jetbike:

[Wilson Saunders]

Right now I am experimenting with ball pickup dynamic and biker shield. The lance will have 3 states: inactive, grab, and charge. While inactive the bike will travel at top speed and be protected from enemy strikes by a shield. While in grab state the bike's speed will be reduced and the shield is disabled. The grab state will be able to pickup and hold a ball so long as it is not being held by another player. When grab stat ends the ball will be flung forward. While in charge state the lance is building up energy for a strike. As a result the bike's speed is reduced and the shield is disabled. When the player leaves charge state the energy built up in the charge is projected forward in a lance strike. If the ball is in this forward path it is launched forward. If a shielded enemy bike is in this forward path the bike is pushed away along this path. If an unshielded enemy bike is in the forward path the bike is killed and must suffer the re spawn penalty. The lance strike is the only way to break the ball grab of another bike.

AI must exhibit new behavior based on if a friendly or enemy bike has grabbed the ball. Also the AI will want to attack other bikes for the fun of it.

[sonjool]

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hgBt7pfxkJg/UKWJ09q42iI/AAAAAAAAAVk/lq2a5zuHYVQ/s1600/Jetlance.jpg
Hi I am currently working on the game as well. Here's a progress shot for the jetbikes. Still making some adjustments.

[Mallus]

Nice design! Keep up the good work

[Wilson Saunders]

Thanks to the stellar work of Sam (aka SonJool) I now have 3d models of the jet bikes of this game.


As for the programming I have implemented the lance ball and for strike for the player but not for the bots. The Z Key picks up the ball, the X key charges the lance. Releasing the X key will strike with the lance. A lance strike when the ball is right in front of the player will push the ball forward. A lance strike when an enemy bike is in front of the player will kill the enemy bike.

Link to playable version on first post has been updated.

[Ted]

It looks pretty neat and handles well. The wedge-like nose of your vehicle makes it tough to move the ball with control. Maybe a flatter nose would help you control the ball better.

Cool idea, good luck!

[Ted]

ahh, just read your full design plan. It looks like you intend to hit the ball with an energy punch instead of the nose of the bike.

[Wilson Saunders]

@Ted Martens

There is also a ball pick up mechanic, but the bots aren't smart enough to use it yet.

[Wilson Saunders]

In the time honored tradition, I am cutting features and taking shortcuts. The lance is removed, and killing other players comes down to ramming them just right.



There is still a lot of play balance that needs to be done. Still thanks to the efforts of Sam (Joo Son) This game has all its art assets. One day left. I can totally do this. 

[Wilson Saunders]

After a bunch of last minute tweaks and feature stripping I have a playable game here:
http://www.monkeydev.com/unity/lance/

Many thanks to Sam (Joo) Son who bravely volunteered to do the art and listen to my game design rants. Also thank you Humberto Cabral who contributed sound effects. Your names and websites are in the credits as I promised.

Now for the obligatory screen shot dump, to encourage you all to play me game.

[Wilson Saunders]

Minor update:
Beto provided me with a new set of sounds which I incorporated this morning. Also after play testing I found the first to 5 points could take a very long time. Game has been changed to top score in 5 minutes.