for my masters project I am making a boomer shooter as many of my favourite games are in this genre, for this project the unique gimmick is that all the weapons found in the experience are shotguns and the player needs to use the mecahnics to be able to get close to damage enemies and avoid there attacks
For this game with the combat having a focus on such close range its important that the movement is versatile and allows for the player to close gaps on enemies and get away, to do this i designed a wall run and dash system for the player character, the wall run allows the player to get across the combat arena quickly and when leaping from wall to wall the player can gain some vertical height to get enemies that are high up, where as the dash allows for the player to clear horizontal distances quickly but its has a short cool down making it so it has to be used effectively so the player isnt left exposed.
for a experience like this i needed to set up a system where i could manage the encounters and set up different requirements to progress, for this system so far i have set up requrequirements where the player needs to kill X amount of enemies, or survive for a certain amount of time before a door opens.
Following advice from my Project supervisor i decided to learn a new tool in unreal engine so that i could make my own sound effects for each weapon and other systems that required sound, I had a very Specific idea for how i wanted each weapon to sound and using generic sound effects wouldn't have been effective or fitting and using metasounds i was able to make various sound effects for weapon firing noises, weapon switch noises and sounds for other systems.
I have finally been able to reach the end of the devlopment cycle and i have been able to make a solid end product, it meets all the goals i set for myself and this project has allowed me to learn new skills like VFX and metasounds so that i could make a product that feels finished and professional, with there being plenty of room to take the project further and make it into a full game experience.