Forest of Fusion
Forest of Fusion
Trailer (1:21)
Development Information
Team Size: Solo
Project Duration: 12 Weeks
Engine: Unreal Engine 5
Story Description
You play as a nameless human who lives on the outskirts of a forest that no one dares enter. However, when he sees a creature so monstrous walk in, all caution is thrown to the wayside as he gathers his wits and weapons to follow that monstrosity into the forest to learn more about the dreaded creature and about the forest as a whole.
Gameplay Description
Forest of Fusion is a first person action RPG that puts your combat prowess to the test. Slash and dash around the forest to get further in to track down the monstrosity you saw. There aren't just normal creatures, however, as there are also fused monstrosities that are much more powerful that you can steal the abilities of once you are victorious in battle against them.
Download Link
Dash
Ability Description: Dash towards a given direction
Input: Left Shift
Distance: 5 Meters
Special: Doubles the damage of light/heavy attacks if they connect while dashing.
Usage: Maneuver around the forest and dodge/engage enemies; Deal massive damage with a high-risk combo attack
Light Attack
Ability Description: Quickly slice in front of you
Input: Left Mouse Button
Damage: 20hp
Range: 4 Meters
Usage: Non-commital and quick attacks to chip away enemies health.
Heavy Attack
Ability Description: Wind up to slice in front of you
Input: Right Mouse Button
Damage: 50hp
Range: 5 Meters
Usage: High risk, high reward attacks to deal big damage to enemies.
Challenge
Light attacks were strictly better than heavy attacks
Using Feeding Frenzy added ammo that the player could freely switch to and use
This ammo never went away, meaning that the game had to be balanced around the player potentially having tons of special shots at any given point
Solution
Add a high risk option to allow heavy attacks to fill a niche light attacks don't
The player deals double damage while dashing
Impact
Light attacks and heavy attacks have their own unique roles
Light attacks are used for noncommittal poke damage
Heavy attacks are used to combine with the dash for a high burst of damage, at the risk of putting the player in danger if used improperly
Light attacks can also be used in conjunction with the dash, but does 2/5ths the damage a heavy attack dash would do
Stolen Abilities
Chomp (Wolf)
Ability Description: Bites an enemy in front of you for massive damage
Input: 1
Damage: 200hp
Cooldown: 5 Seconds
Range: 5 Meters
Usage: Deal massive damage with little risk to yourself
Chaaaaarge! (Deer)
Ability Description: Charges forward knocking up and stunning the first enemy hit.
Input: 2
Damage: 50hp
Stun Duration: 3 Seconds
Cooldown: 10 Seconds
Range: 15 Meters (Distance); 5 Meter (Hitbox)
Usage: Maneuver around the field quickly and/or stun an enemy.
Enemies
Wolf
Enemy Description: A wolf that will bite and pounce on you
Health: 100hp
Bite: If in range, bites forward and deals 5 damage if connected.
Pounce: If not in range in a given timeframe (1-10 seconds decided at random), pounce forward and deals 10 damage if connected.
Deer
Enemy Description: An aggressive deer that will charge directly at you
Health: 150hp
Chaaaaarge!: Readies an attack, then charges at the player dealing 20 damage and knocking the player away and stunning them for 2 seconds if the attack connects.
Deolf
Enemy Description: A beefed up fusion of the deer and wolf
Health: 500hp
Bite: If in range, bites forward and deals 5 damage if connected.
Pounce: If not in range in a given timeframe (1-10 seconds decided at random), pounce forward and deals 10 damage if connected.
Chaaaaarge!: Readies an attack, then charges at the player dealing 20 damage and knocking the player away and stunning them for 2 seconds if the attack connects; the Deolf always does this attack first at the start of an encounter.
Breakdown
Combat Area 1 (Tutorial)
Player spawns in forest surrounded by bushes with only 1 way forward
Big open area with the first enemy that serves as a tutorial
The excess size is to allow for new players to get used to the movement without tight corridors
Tree trunk blocking path gets destroyed after defeating the wolf
Movement Area 1
Player must jump over tree trunks to move further
Forces player to learn how to use the dash to pass if they didn't use it during the tutorial
Sets tone for future movement areas later
Combat Area 2
5 wolves spawn in groups of 1/2/2
Next group spawns after previous group has been defeated
Wolves spawn in increments as to not overwhelm the player
Movement Area 2
Tighter and more precise movement needed to pass than MA1
Smaller trunk in front of big trunk to prevent softlocks
Combat Area 3
Spawns new enemy "Deer"
Sets tone that even "passive" animals like deer will attack the player on sight
Spawn groups consist of Deer, Deer + Wolf, and Deer + Deer
Movement Area 3
Even tighter and more precise movement needed to pass
Angled and/or smaller trunks to prevent softlocks
Combat Area 4 (Boss)
Big area to compensate for the size of the Deolf (Deer Wolf)
Sets tone of fighting fused monsters in this game
Big wave of enemies (2x Wolf + 2x Deer) to test gained abilities after Deolf is defeated
Destructible Trunk
Prevents player from moving forward
Destroys itself when all enemies in the area have been defeated
Permanently destroyed even if the player dies and restarts
Indestructible Trunk
Prevents player from moving backwards in the level
Either falls blocking the path once the player reaches the next area, or the player must deliberately jump over the trunk to reach the next area.
Learning to work with AI to make this game a reality was super fun. During the development of this game, I also noticed that my scripting abilities overall improved immensely. Looking back at my previous project shows I made massive improvements to my overall scripting process.