Corentin Bouchain
Game Designer
PORTFOLIO
VIRTUAL BADASS LINK TO THE GAME
Play as Buck, the most powerful creation of a freelance developer.
While he was in the middle of producing his new video game, an unexpected phenomenon struck.
His own creation, the Final Boss, took control of the software; allowing him to modify everything at will, and preventing any action by the developer. Except ONE!
BUCK, THE POWERFUL VIRTUAL MERCENARY!
His only mission: DEFEAT THE BOSS!
Game Genre: TPS, Bullet Hell, Platformer
Number of players: Solo game
Public : Hardcore shooting game player
Support: PC
Engine: Unity
Game Design
It is a single-player third-person shooter game that mixes mechanics from BulletHell and Platformer; the player embodies Buck , the Invincible armored monster slayer from the future, in a game whose universe is not his own.
But be careful! The player's skills will be put to the test, in an atmosphere of nervousness and challenge.
In the heart of an Oil Volcano filled with deadly mechanisms, a wild fight takes place against the Final Boss , a treacherous and ingenious creature. And in order to reach the Combat Arena, you will first have to fight your way through the multiple mechanisms installed by the Boss. All this, mixed with the natural phenomena created by the Volcano.
Using Buck's Power Boots and Backpack Thruster , the player will travel along paths strewn with pitfalls.
And with the help of his Destructive Blasters , he will smash bursts of giant projectiles into a thousand pieces.
The player continually moves around the level by running, and can use a jump and a dash to destroy and dodge projectiles.
These last two can be charged to increase their distance, and combine to make a diagonal jump.
The player also has the ability to shoot, to destroy projectiles and obstacles in his path.
It has an overheat bar that prevents it from continuously firing, forcing it to carefully pace each of its bursts of fire.
Level Design
Reflexion
In order to highlight the boss battle as much as possible, we realize different pattern module trough test and iteration, and choose one that will be the definition of "the most complex in game pattern".
This pattern will be used as the last challenge of our vertical slice. And we have create the whole learning phase of the player around this challenge.
Set up
The first level: the exterior of the volcano
First, the player was placed in a closed and secure environment (a cave) where he could experiment with all the game mechanics at his own pace and without danger , having to validate all his learning to get out.
Once outside the cavern, the player is faced with the game's various obstacles, and learns to overcome them with its game mechanics. All of this serves to qualify him for the boss fight .
Example of qualification for projectile drop:
Example of qualification for destructible and indestructible projectiles
The second level: the boss fight
The boss fight is broken down into 7 different phases: 4 Bullet Hell patterns interspersed with 3 projectile rains .
Through playtesting, this is the most appropriate pacing we have found.
This makes the boss fight complex, but not frustratingly long for our target players.
How Patterns Work
As said above , we defined a pattern as the final objective of the player's learning (pattern 4 in red on the image).
From this module, we used the atomic game design method to decompose the various elements of pattern 4.
Here are some examples of atomic parameters and possible player solutions:
Here is an example of a possible pattern resulting from the decomposition of pattern 4, still with the idea of qualifying the player:
Here is the result of a pattern once in game, to beat a phase of Bullet Hell, the player must shoot the sources of the shots : the boss's hands
How projectile rain works:
The rain of projectiles was added to interrupt the patterns of Bullet Hell. This allows to vary the rhythm , but also to make the player understand that the fight is progressing .
Each rain of projectiles is more complex than the last.
Here's a projectile rain in play:
