Devlog #4 - The Start of Production

Hello, and welcome back to our fourth devlog! This week marks an exciting milestone—we’ve officially moved from prototyping into full production! With our core mechanics tested and our artistic direction set, we’ve begun developing key gameplay systems and refining the overall experience. Let’s dive into what we accomplished this week.

The Lobby System: Local Multiplayer Setup

One of the most crucial features for our game is smooth local multiplayer, so we started by building a lobby system where players can seamlessly join a match. Here’s what we focused on:

• Dynamic Player Joining: Players can now join by pressing a button on their controller. The system dynamically assigns controllers, ensuring a smooth experience.
• Character Selection: Players can choose between Heavy and Light characters before the match starts.
• UI & Feedback: We added visual cues to indicate when a player has joined, as well as a countdown to confirm readiness before the match begins.

With the lobby system in place, players can now quickly set up matches and jump into the action without any hassle.

Weapon Pickup System

We also began properly implementing our weapon pickup system. While the prototype proved that players enjoyed chasing weapons, this week was all about making the system functional and polished. Here’s what we improved:

• Abstract Weapon System – Implemented a base class for weapons, with melee and projectile weapons extending from it. This keeps things modular and flexible for future additions.
• Improved Projectile Accuracy – Projectiles now hit their targets more reliably, fixing inconsistencies from the prototype.
• Consistent Force Application – Knockback and impact forces are now more predictable, making melee and projectile interactions feel more balanced.
• Weapon Pickup & Discarding – Players can pick up and drop weapons as needed
• No Weapon Stealing – Players cannot take weapons from each other, preventing frustration and keeping the gameplay less cluttered.
• Stunning Still Needs to Be Added – The stun effect for attacks isn’t implemented yet, but it’s next on the list to make combat feel more impactful.

Our next steps include refining the timing spawning of weapons to ensure each match remains dynamic and strategic.

Player Movement

We made several changes to improve movement:

• Acceleration – Movement now starts and stops naturally, avoiding sudden or floaty movement.
• Rotation – Players now rotate smoothly toward their movement direction instead of snapping instantly.
• Velocity Clamping – Speed is now limited to prevent players from moving too fast while keeping momentum.

Dashing

We made dashing work properly and added new features:

• Directional Dashing – If a player is moving, dashes follow the input direction. If not moving, dashes go in the direction the player is facing.
• Cooldown System – Dashing now has a cooldown to prevent it from being spammed.
• Controller Feedback – Controllers vibrate when trying to dash while on cooldown, giving feedback that the dash is unavailable.

we are still working on it and it will still be updated!

Tweaking the Prototype

During production, we continued tweaking values from the prototype to make movement and gameplay feel better. While the core mechanics were in place, playtesters found certain aspects too slow, and the dash cooldown felt too restrictive. Based on this feedback, we decided to adjust these elements.

Adjustments Based on Playtesting

• Movement Speed – Playtesters felt the game was too slow, so we increased movement speed to make gameplay more dynamic.
• Dash Cooldown – The original cooldown was too long, making dashing feel limited. We reduced it to keep movement fluid.
• Weapons and Player Forces – Both were adjusted to improve balance and make combat interactions feel better.

Scoring System Feedback

Playtesting gave mixed results regarding the scoring system. The first group didn’t enjoy it, but after tweaking movement and dashing, the second group liked it much more. Now, we’re unsure whether to keep it as is or make further changes.

Art concepting

With the first week of production having started, it’s the artists’ time to shine to start coming up with ideas and designs that best resonate with the chaotic game we’re trying to create!

The first task on list was of course gathering reference extensively. From beetles,gladiators, VFX to funky weapons these will inspire to the creative juices going.

Concepts in this phase are still pretty broad with next week finalising our favourite designs, the idea of having our beetles be gladiators battling inside this colosseum all being part of a giant tree trunk was a jumping off point.

Later on working more in the theme of the boomfruit/pomegrenade another concept was born having the beetles their elytra be infused with a specific fruit belonging to one tribe each.

The final ideations thought off were how to tackle the use of weapons, having these more realistic but chibi creations or going with equipment that is more silly and not too hard hitting as to not explode the bomb before intended.

Message #group_work

General Development Progress

As we transition from prototypes to full development, we’re also tackling a range of important gameplay features:

• Map Design: We’ve started designing finalized maps with clear pathways and strategic points for bomb movement and weapon pickups.
• Physics Adjustments: Based on feedback, we’re fine-tuning how the bomb reacts to player interactions to keep movement responsive yet challenging.
• Visual Refinements: Our artists are working on finalizing shaders and refining the game’s visual style for a bold, readable look.

Plans for Next Week

• Refining Weapon Mechanics: Balancing different weapons to keep gameplay fun and fair.
• Developing the First Playable Map: Creating a polished, functional map to test all mechanics in a cohesive environment.
• Bringing Characters to Life: Working on animations and visual polish for character movement and attacks.

We’re making great progress, and we’re excited to see everything come together! Thanks for following along—let us know what you think, and stay tuned for more updates next week!

Cya next week!