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[j-swan]

Welcome to the Devlog of Worm Slayer.

Being developed in Unity for PC (no mobile devices).

Gameplay breakdown:
Character can move in 3 directions only, up, forward, and down.
As the worms appear, you input the direction and attack to move directly to the worm.
If you miss a single worm, it's death and back to the starting line.
As you progress in levels, a wider range of attacks and movement becomes introduced based on the worms. Some words you need to jump first, some require a block, and some need to be completely avoided.
It's a very simple concept but becomes very addicting and fun as the success is based on pattern recognition and precise reflexes.



Check out the first video for a clear idea.

This will be my first Unity game and all assets are original (except for these demos the music is from Mischief Makers).

latest video:





Hero concept:


CORE DESIGN NOTES:
1) Finalize character
2) Finalize worm characters and behaviors
3) create new gameplay segments (hack and slash, maybe falling segments, some more platformy stuff?, boss fight)
4) Create tutorial segments
5) Create level patterns and balance difficulty
6) Graphical polishing for levels, effects, and menus
6.5) music and sound engineering
7) technical issues such as controllers, publishing to steam etc

Animation list-

Idle - done
Run - done
Jump - done
Basic attack - done
line attack - done
Charge attack - done
Shield + counter - done
Uppercut - done
Jump attack - done

I now have all the character movement/attacks animated out, only thing left is to program the jump animation with mecanim.
After that I will be finalizing the worms with their animation, then I can consider filling out the tutorials or creating a secondary play style. And also a boss or two.

Because of my progress with the player animation, I will update this to 20% complete.
Game is now 30% complete due to all the worms being roughly finished. Now I will be refining a lot of what I have so it all flows properly and the attacks work as they should. Some collision issues and enemy programming.

After this next milestone, the big task will be creating tutorial levels and level progression. After that, a boss level, and after that, a second gameplay type to punctuate the levels. And then, completion (hopefully).

[Pixel Noise]

Neat idea! Are the inputs/movements timed or metered? So it's got a rhythmic element?

[j-swan]

Neat idea! Are the inputs/movements timed or metered? So it's got a rhythmic element?

Thanks for the reply!

Technically, the inputs are not constrained by time. You can hit them whenever you want. However, the appearance of the worms is timed, so it forces you to play by the games rhythm. Also, the speed of movement is not determined by input, so the speed of the game is pretty automatic. In a way you could compare it guitar hero but the inputs are non-forgiving, and obviously it looks radically different. And You can't miss a beat. 

Playing through a level should feel like one constant flow based on the rhythm of the worms appearing. I will also have some that require a charge attack, which slows down the rhythm. Overall I want to induce a zen-like flow to the inputs and action.

[Pixel Noise]

Very cool! Since it is essentially timed, then - are you planning on having the music sync to the rhythm of the worms?

[j-swan]

Very cool! Since it is essentially timed, then - are you planning on having the music sync to the rhythm of the worms?

Maybe, depending how much work it would be. I don't want to market it as a rhythm/music game because that limits the expectation for it in my opinion. But if I'm able to have my composer line up the beats to the worm appearance I may do it but I wouldnt consider it a priority, just an extra thing at the end

[Shephf]

Looks cool, but if you miss even a single worm, you die, right ? m.b. make it less punishing, something like that missed worm chases you and you can avoid it. If you avoid it for some time it leaves you alone

[j-swan]

Looks cool, but if you miss even a single worm, you die, right ? m.b. make it less punishing, something like that missed worm chases you and you can avoid it. If you avoid it for some time it leaves you alone

You can't really avoid anything since the movement is locked to 3 directions. I was thinking of having a hail mary move, once per level you can do an attack that clears the stage.

I really want to make it a hardcore challenge though, and the levels will be kept pretty short. So when thinking about the challenge, there has to be a certain length of time the player has to go without making a mistake. If I keep the levels short, the player can't make a mistake. If I allow a mistake, that just means I need to extend the length of the level. The core of any challenge is the length of perfection required without punishment. This will be something I have to balance over and over as I get deeper into it and get more players to test.

With that being said, if anyone wants to play the first beta let me know, hopefully I'll have something in a month or two. I could release what I already have but I'd like more levels fleshed out first and a better presentation.

[j-swan]

next step for me is to get all the  character animations done.

Here's the current list:

Idle - rough done
Run
Jump
Basic attack
Block
Attack after Block
Jump attack
Charge attack
Running attack

cinematic animations for the opening and closing.

here's the current ones. jumping animation will be broken up in Unity and controlled there.

[tankorsmash]

You gotta add some juice to the combat there, maybe a little flash or a few frames of pause when the blade makes contact. The game's looking cool, I could imagine really getting sucked into the flow like a One Finger Death Punch.

[j-swan]

You gotta add some juice to the combat there, maybe a little flash or a few frames of pause when the blade makes contact. The game's looking cool, I could imagine really getting sucked into the flow like a One Finger Death Punch.

Yeah good point. I'm going to add some particles on the worms, give it some cutesy gore effect.

re-did the running animation, I think this will work for now.
the previous animations were all stock that I grabbed from free resources, now I'm remaking all them to fit the gameplay.
Once I have all the character movement planned out, I can work on building out all the worms and level designs.

The other thing is I may add transition levels where the controls change and it becomes more of a hack 'n slash. I would like to have some variety so the basic gameplay stays fresh. Also planning on at least one boss fight, which will probably require a little different character behavior.

[j-swan]

Made a new basic attack animation. Works for now.







now I'm thinking I should make a second one, where he slashes in the opposite direction. But I will save that as an extra one down the road.

[j-swan]

Just made the spin attack, which will be used to wipe out a row of worms at once.

[j-swan]

Feeling productive tonight, cranked out the charge attack. Shouldnt need any touchup on this, I like it.

[j-swan]

Finished the block + counter attack animation.

I only have 2 animations left for now, uppercut and jump attack, these should be the two most fun ones.

[j-swan]

Not totally finished with this one, I want it to look perfect.
Any critiques welcome.



Idle - draft done
Run - draft done
Jump - draft done
Basic attack - draft done
Block - draft done
Attack after Block - draft done
Jump attack
Charge attack - draft done
Spinning attack - draft done
Uppercut - draft done

[j-swan]

added a sword trail effect and the last animation, the jumping, plunge into ground attack.

Need some refining overall but the first stage is done.

[j-swan]

I have now programmed all the character's moves into the game, albeit some touchup will be needed to make it flow better. THe hitboxes will need to be modified according to the context of the attack as well. However this will be sorted out in more detail once I finish all the worms.
I have 3 more worms to finish, then I will be able to smooth it all out, and crank out some levels.

After that, I will put in some tutorials for each move. After that, a boss fight.

Then I will consider making a second play style, which would be free movement, left to right, and involve a simple block/jump/slash mechanic. Also considering a 3rd play mode in which the character falls downward. Nothing too complicated. The other option would be making more boss fights, which could really boost the excitement factor of the game. That will require some creativity for designing how the fights will work using the existing moves.

[Pixel Noise]

Not totally finished with this one, I want it to look perfect.
Any critiques welcome.



Idle - draft done
Run - draft done
Jump - draft done
Basic attack - draft done
Block - draft done
Attack after Block - draft done
Jump attack
Charge attack - draft done
Spinning attack - draft done
Uppercut - draft done

These are looking good - and I like the trail effect you added. With the uppercut, it seems like maybe it's just a bit...slow, as he launches upward? Like the motion is too even, vs. a more dynamic jump upward, with a slight slow down/pause at the top?

[j-swan]

Not totally finished with this one, I want it to look perfect.
Any critiques welcome.



Idle - draft done
Run - draft done
Jump - draft done
Basic attack - draft done
Block - draft done
Attack after Block - draft done
Jump attack
Charge attack - draft done
Spinning attack - draft done
Uppercut - draft done

These are looking good - and I like the trail effect you added. With the uppercut, it seems like maybe it's just a bit...slow, as he launches upward? Like the motion is too even, vs. a more dynamic jump upward, with a slight slow down/pause at the top?

I will take this into consideration as I move into the polishing of the animations. I definitely need to spice it up and I'll be looking at the timing and collisions of all his animations, especially now that I've got the latest update done...





I now have all the worm types modelled, animated, and ready to go. I'm sticking with my 7 types. When these guys are all laid out in patterns it will be extremely challenging to keep up. I was even having to focus just to pull off this demo video haha.

With this being done, I'll upgrade progress to 30%.
Now that I've got a lot of the fun stuff done, I'll be progressing into a period of refining the gameplay with collisions, better animations, effects, and ironing out all the little quirks with the camera, transitions, etc.

[DarthTrae]

Seems like there's gonna be some good humor in this  Its funny how I just now got my custom character controller into the engine. It seems like yours is in the early stage s like mine as well.