Introduction

What a week it has been for our development team!

After the decision to go for the "outlaws on ice skates" idea, we put our creativity on display.

Drafts for the art style and art bible were quick to be made.

We also figured out the technical setup for our project, allowing us to work with an improved efficiency!

Lets list the most important developments that took place this week:

Art

This week the artists worked on cementing an art style

We were already leaning into the cell shaded look, but we did not have in depth ideas yet

For the character, we were going for wide bodies and detached limbs. This would give us more freedom when animating as we do not have to account for arms, hips and legs.

Hats also play a big role in the game, as they indicate what type of character is being played

One of our members also took the time to make a 3D-model based on these sketches

A test scene was also made

At the same time, our artist have been diligently working on the art bible. Here is a 'sketch' of what the shape language page would look like.

  We weren't sure if we wanted to go for a 2D or 3D character at first but after prototyping the assets and movement we decided to go for a 3D character. 

After that we tried out animating the previously shown 3D model and it was looking quite promising.

And just to try it out we also animated a 2D plane just to see how it would work.

One of our members made 3 cell shader concepts to give the world and characters a more western feel. 

Mechanics

After our last meeting with our supervisors, we needed to flesh out our greenlit idea with more robust mechanics.

Our idea had some gaps that needed filling, so we put our minds together and crafted a more in-depth mechanic list!

Here's how it looks:

Contract system:

• The players all have a contract on a different outlaw, which forces them to fight with that player.
• Completing your contract rewards the player with an number of coins.
• Subsequent kills without dying increases the reward per contract, but also adds weight to the player, decreasing their acceleration and decreasing their slow down factor.
• The decision on which outlaw is on the contract when he respawns is based off the amount of money a player has.
• If a player eliminates himself, the other players that have a bounty on that player “poach” the bounty, giving them half the value of their contract and not increasing the value of the next one.
• Killing the wrong person removes half of the current contract value from your total coins, but you keep your contract.

Movement:

• The town is frozen over, which means all outlaws are on ice!
• Movement is based on impulse and sliding.
• The players must repeatedly “push” their characters to move, which makes them slide along the map based on their total velocity.
• Going too fast might make you fall off the edges of the map, eliminating you.

Combat:

• Each player gets a revolver with 6 bullets (gun variants per character).
• The players have unlimited reserve bullets, but reloading takes time
• A player needs 2 shots to be eliminated.
• When you have your last bullet, you can challenge another player to a standoff, locking both player in place and starting a “dueling timer”.
• When the timer runs out, the player who shoots the fastest will kill the other player, guaranteeing an elimination.
• Shooting to quick will result in self-elimination.
• You respawn at a designated place on the map.
  • No one will have a contract on you yet so no risk of spawn camping

Prototype

Our current build now supports multiplayer and has a working contract system!

You can download the latest build from our page

You can now have up to 4 players at the same time with working interactions and weapons

See you all next week!

- The SlipFights team