Created by Chris Beagle, Sawyer Paradise, Wylie Rea, and Kenneth Zuerner.
Two-semester, senior-year game project. Made in Unity.
Gambit is a cooperative multiplayer first-person shooter designed to emphasize communication and coordination.
My contributions to the project included:
- Creation of the concept prototype, including LAN gameplay.
- Implementation of core health and damage systems including shields, critical volumes, damage-sharing, etc.
- Implementation of multiple player and enemy abilities.
- Implementation of AI that allows enemies to use environmental cover intelligently.
- Implementation of ADS including animation, recoil dampening, and FOV adjustment.
- Implementation of enemy nameplate and healthbar floaters for the UI.
- Bug extermination.
Two-semester, senior-year game project. Made in Unity.
Gambit is a cooperative multiplayer first-person shooter designed to emphasize communication and coordination.
My contributions to the project included:
- Creation of the concept prototype, including LAN gameplay.
- Implementation of core health and damage systems including shields, critical volumes, damage-sharing, etc.
- Implementation of multiple player and enemy abilities.
- Implementation of AI that allows enemies to use environmental cover intelligently.
- Implementation of ADS including animation, recoil dampening, and FOV adjustment.
- Implementation of enemy nameplate and healthbar floaters for the UI.
- Bug extermination.
Gambit featured both a cooperative mission reminiscent of a strike in Destiny as well as an infinite wave-based survival mode akin to Horde gameplay from Gears of War. Also similar to Destiny, players had three distinct classes and a variety of weapons available to them. Although the infinite mode was robust, even featuring enemies, weapons, and objectives not found in the mission scenario, the focus of the project was the mission.
The mission began simple, allowing players to familiarize themselves with their classes and loadouts, requiring only combat and cover to progress, however before long, they found themselves faced with a turret that would shred players even from long range, and which grew only more devastating the closer they got; furthermore, this turret was not destructible. At this point, players were forced to think and work together to progress. One player would have to draw its fire and take cover while their teammates moved forward, then switch roles and leapfrog to make their way toward and through the gate the turret overlooked.
The next mini-puzzle the players faced was simply an expanse that was spanned by three bridges which were visibly phased out but color-coded to match three enemies that were also present. When one of the enemies took sufficient damage, they would retreat and their matching bridge segment would phase in, allowing players to traverse that portion of the divide. When another enemy was damaged, its segment would become available, as expected, but the previous enemy would return with full health and its segment would be removed. So, players were taught that they could not only control which platforms were available, but also that they could only keep one color active at a time. This portion of gameplay, while relatively trivial, was necessary for tutorial purposes.
The players next came across another action-oriented portion that required nothing but gunplay to progress - just platforming and havoc. This segment was not only simple, but easy, yet also featured and abundance of targets, providing a change in pace, difficulty, and engagement type.
Players were then confronted with the first true test of their communication and coordination, not to mention gunplay: a room similar to the color-coded bridges, but which had a variety of small platforms whose colors were mixed thoroughly, with three platforms on the other end of the expanse. The players, however, were once again presented with the same three enemies they encountered in the bridge room, and knew how it would work. To progress, players would have to help each other traverse the expanse, the player progressing calling for what color platform they needed next so their teammates could take out the associated enemy to make that platform color available. Since the players were under heavy fire with minimal cover or room to maneuver, communication, coordination, and precision were all necessary to succeed. Since each player had to make it to a unique platform on the other side of the expanse, the order in which platforms needed to be activated necessarily varied due to the paths being different.
The final challenge the players faced was a boss which tested not only gunplay, but also communication and quick thinking. The boss had a variety of abilities, each of which could be countered using the layout of the room it resided in. For example, the boss had a lock-on laser that would one-shot players hit by it and which was impossible to dodge, however players who were locked onto could position themselves to have an environmental column between themselves and the boss when the laser fired to counter it. Likewise, there was an overhead laser that could be countered by standing under environmental overhangs. This overhead laser especially, however, required teammates to communicate, as it was high enough that players wouldn't see it targeting them unless they were looking upward, placing themselves at great risk in other ways; so, to survive, players would have to keep tabs on where it was for each other, calling out when one of their teammates were in danger so they could position themselves appropriately without having to look skyward themselves. The boss also featured a missile barrage that could be countered via other environmental cover and turret-like gunfire that could be soaked or dodged. While the players were fighting the boss, there were also adds spawning. The adds that spawned would attack players but also make their way to control points which powered the shackles that kept the boss immobile. As adds managed to disable the shackles, the boss gained an increased range of movement, so although destroying the boss was the ultimate objective, keeping adds under control was actually paramount, not only to prevent the players from being overwhelmed by them, but also to prevent - or at least minimize - the boss' mobility.
In total, the scenario mission provided approximately 30m of gameplay for a team of skilled FPS players.
The mission began simple, allowing players to familiarize themselves with their classes and loadouts, requiring only combat and cover to progress, however before long, they found themselves faced with a turret that would shred players even from long range, and which grew only more devastating the closer they got; furthermore, this turret was not destructible. At this point, players were forced to think and work together to progress. One player would have to draw its fire and take cover while their teammates moved forward, then switch roles and leapfrog to make their way toward and through the gate the turret overlooked.
The next mini-puzzle the players faced was simply an expanse that was spanned by three bridges which were visibly phased out but color-coded to match three enemies that were also present. When one of the enemies took sufficient damage, they would retreat and their matching bridge segment would phase in, allowing players to traverse that portion of the divide. When another enemy was damaged, its segment would become available, as expected, but the previous enemy would return with full health and its segment would be removed. So, players were taught that they could not only control which platforms were available, but also that they could only keep one color active at a time. This portion of gameplay, while relatively trivial, was necessary for tutorial purposes.
The players next came across another action-oriented portion that required nothing but gunplay to progress - just platforming and havoc. This segment was not only simple, but easy, yet also featured and abundance of targets, providing a change in pace, difficulty, and engagement type.
Players were then confronted with the first true test of their communication and coordination, not to mention gunplay: a room similar to the color-coded bridges, but which had a variety of small platforms whose colors were mixed thoroughly, with three platforms on the other end of the expanse. The players, however, were once again presented with the same three enemies they encountered in the bridge room, and knew how it would work. To progress, players would have to help each other traverse the expanse, the player progressing calling for what color platform they needed next so their teammates could take out the associated enemy to make that platform color available. Since the players were under heavy fire with minimal cover or room to maneuver, communication, coordination, and precision were all necessary to succeed. Since each player had to make it to a unique platform on the other side of the expanse, the order in which platforms needed to be activated necessarily varied due to the paths being different.
The final challenge the players faced was a boss which tested not only gunplay, but also communication and quick thinking. The boss had a variety of abilities, each of which could be countered using the layout of the room it resided in. For example, the boss had a lock-on laser that would one-shot players hit by it and which was impossible to dodge, however players who were locked onto could position themselves to have an environmental column between themselves and the boss when the laser fired to counter it. Likewise, there was an overhead laser that could be countered by standing under environmental overhangs. This overhead laser especially, however, required teammates to communicate, as it was high enough that players wouldn't see it targeting them unless they were looking upward, placing themselves at great risk in other ways; so, to survive, players would have to keep tabs on where it was for each other, calling out when one of their teammates were in danger so they could position themselves appropriately without having to look skyward themselves. The boss also featured a missile barrage that could be countered via other environmental cover and turret-like gunfire that could be soaked or dodged. While the players were fighting the boss, there were also adds spawning. The adds that spawned would attack players but also make their way to control points which powered the shackles that kept the boss immobile. As adds managed to disable the shackles, the boss gained an increased range of movement, so although destroying the boss was the ultimate objective, keeping adds under control was actually paramount, not only to prevent the players from being overwhelmed by them, but also to prevent - or at least minimize - the boss' mobility.
In total, the scenario mission provided approximately 30m of gameplay for a team of skilled FPS players.