The goal for Mudslappers was to create a fast-paced, skill-based game, which presented obstacles relating to player strategy and behaviour with the elimination format of the game. The following are key points I designed and implemented to solve the numerous challenges we faced.

Skill-Based Gameplay

The Problem: Hitting other players feels luck based as to who is sent back

The Solution: In addition to completely reworking the knockback system, different knockback multipliers were applied depending on the part of the player that hit an opponent. The mudskipper was split into numerous sections including the head, the main tail and the tip of the tail. Getting the timing and positioning right to hit another player with the tip of your tail rewarded players with a larger knockback multiplier, whereas the safer option of getting closer and hitting with other sections delivered a weaker knockback.

Fast-Paced Gameplay

The Problem: Players hiding to allow each other to lose their lives before joining at the end

The Solution: Players can increment their knockback multipliers the more they interact with the environment and each other, leading to them being more powerful. When players hit other objects or players, their multiplier increases, when they don’t interact with anything for a set amount of time their multiplier begins to decrease. This alongside the implementation of a sudden death timer forced players to seek out fights with each other rather than hiding in the safest parts of the map.

Player Knockback

The player knockback interactions were iterated on numerous times throughout development, originally starting as simple as the player traveling the fastest would knock the other back, to the final iteration of a rock-paper-scissors style system.

First checks were done on what type of attack the players were doing, if they were different to each other, they would see if they had the winning move and if so, apply the knockback to the loser.

In the event the players both were doing the same attack, the system would check what section of the player was colliding, with the body being stronger for certain attacks and the tail being stronger for others. In the event of them colliding in the same position with the same attack, the collision would be classed as a draw and both players knocked back.