Devlog #1 – Welcome to Our Party Game! (Research)

Introduction

Hello, and welcome to the first devlog for our game project!

We are a group of six passionate game developers working together to bring you a fast-paced, chaotic party game. Our team consists of three developers—Louie, Quentin, and Kelvin. And three artists—Ulriks, Joshi, and Jason.

Our game is a 2-4 player competitive party game where you push a bomb into the enemy’s base before it explodes! You can move the bomb by walking into it, hitting it with melee attacks, or launching projectiles. Weapons spawn randomly on the map, so players must race to grab them first. Stunning your opponents can buy you precious time—but be careful! The bomb’s timer is always ticking. The match is played in a best-of-three format, and players can battle in 1v1, 2v2, or free-for-all (1v1v1) modes.

We’ve also introduced two character classes:

• Heavy Characters: Slower movement but recover from stuns faster.
• Light Characters: Faster movement but stay stunned for longer.

With our core concept in place, we spent this week prototyping, testing mechanics, and refining our artistic vision. Let’s dive into what we learned!

This Week’s Prototypes & Findings

Art & Style Direction

We’re going for a bold, fun, and expressive visual style inspired by:

• Moebius-inspired line work combined with cel-shading
• Games like Hyper Light Drifter, Cozy Grove, and Animal Crossing
• Artists like Onemegawatt, Kyle Ferrin, and Masaki Yasuda

We tested shaders in Unity and Unreal to compare readability and overall feel. Unity’s shader pipeline gave us faster iteration time, so we’ll refine our style further within Unity.

Worldbuilding Theme:

• A chibi gladiator colosseum setting
• A giant tree spawning bomb-fruits as the source of chaos
• Floating platforms and strong silhouettes to keep action readable

Engine Decision: Unity vs. Unreal

Goal: Pick the best engine for our game’s scope.

Findings:

• We made prototypes in both engines and found the results to be similar.
• Unity allowed for faster development and iteration.
• Unreal’s advanced features were cool but unnecessary for our game scope.
  Decision: We are using Unity for development.

Bomb Interaction & Physics

Goal: Make hitting the bomb feel satisfying while keeping gameplay balanced.

Findings:

• A lighter bomb that flies farther feels the best.
• Melee attacks should knock the bomb farther than projectiles.
• We will continue tweaking bomb weight, drag, and hit reactions for balance.

Camera System: Split-Screen vs. Static vs. Dynamic

Goal: Find the best camera for visibility and gameplay.

Findings:

• Split-screen was too chaotic with multiple players.
• Dynamic moving cameras felt disorienting.
• Static camera is the best choice:
  • Keeps focus on the bomb and spawning weapons.
  • Ensures players don’t lose track of the action.

Local Multiplayer & Character Selection

Goal: Implement a smooth system for multiple players to join locally and select different characters.

Findings:

• We successfully implemented a character joing system where players can spawn as heavy and light characters.
• Controllers are dynamically assigned to each player upon joining.
• Each player must press a button to join.

Character Movement & Combat

Goal: Test differences between heavy and light characters.

Findings:

• The differences canceled each other out too much.
• We need to exaggerate their strengths and weaknesses for a more distinct playstyle.

Bomb Explosion & Timed Pressure

Goal: Find the right balance for the bomb’s countdown timer and explosion impact.

Findings:

• A countdown of 30 seconds felt too short, making the initial push too powerful. At 60 seconds, the start was still important but felt more balanced.
• When a new bomb spawns, we allow 3 seconds for repositioning before movement resumes. This was enough time, given our current map size.
• Stunning players when a bomb respawns felt frustrating—so we decided to remove it.

Weapon Pickup & Strategy Prototy

Goal: See if players actively prioritize picking up weapons.

Findings:

• Yes, players felt motivated to go for a weapon, depending on how far it spawned from the current ball position. The most effective strategy was to direct the ball slightly toward the weapon’s location before quickly moving to pick it up.
• The spawn rate was influenced by the length of the rounds. A 5-second spawn interval felt too fast—by the time a player picked up a weapon, another would already appear.
• We also experimented with spawning weapons in the center, but this felt less enjoyable. It was too predictable, allowing players to position themselves in advance, reducing the excitement and spontaneity of weapon pickups.

Plans for Next Week

• Testing 2vs2  game play and how fun would it be.
• Testing adding player and building map  so a 1vs 1 vs 1 would be possible and testing it.
• Refine the shader
  
• Develop the world and environments
• Bring characters to life

Thanks for following along! We’ll be back next week with more updates. Let us know what you think—we’d love to hear your feedback!

Cya next week!