Orbicide

About this project

Orbicide is a short project I'm working on. I realised that I have never actually completed a game that you can play through from start to end, that is also decently polished. So that is the goal with this game.

This page will go into the different parts of the process from start to finish. If you want to see and play the final result, scroll all the way to the bottom (or click here).

The first thing I did was setup a super quick prototype for the movement, shooting, and a simple UI.

I wanted a simple way to teach the player the basic mechanics, all without any intrusive text. So this is what I came up with.

I made these enemies which you will fight in levels. To avoid having to write complicated AI code for their movement, they simply float towards you if they have line of sight, and have a slow decelleration which usually allows them to chase you around corners.

I did my first round of playtests around the time I added enemies. I got plenty of helpful feedback which I then used to make this next video.

Player feedback was taken into account, giving more impact to things like killing enemies, and varying up the way the pistol works.

I find it helpful for myself and players to make changelogs for each new version that is published so they know what's changed. It is also helpful for me to see what has changed between versions and see the progress of the game.

I wanted more interesting enemies for players to fight, that make you think about more than just running and gunning. This enemy type makes other enemies invincible until you destroy it.

For level design, I've been making it all in engine with a tool called Scythe, it's been a fun process using this tool.

I added a simple level select screen that will probably be updated later on to show times and scores.

I improved on the menu by adding stats for each level. This was accompanied by a save system to log these.

The enemy variety was quite a lot at this point and it allowed me to make some interesting levels.

This level's gimmick was that it was dark, which was a great way to introduce the bombers who get close to you and explode. In the dark they tend to jump out at you as a surprise.

The game's movement was overhauled with grounded movement instead, inspired by games like Dusk and Quake

I remade all the levels, and gave them a lot more interactables. Like this level with a water pit you have to drain

Levels were textured, and the melee attack was replaced with a pickaxe instead

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