YEAR 2 - BA2a - GunGodz

So Vlambeer has made a 3D game
GunGodz

I played it and figured that it was worth analyzing since it's so relevant to the FPS route of my game.

I also found this article where JW analyses the game.






- Firstly, the game has a lot of enemies. Initially not too many but it ramps up pretty fast.

This is because (as we know from vlambeers 'game feel' presentation), JW operates with the notion that lots of weak enemies are more satisfying to kill than just a few 'heavy' enemies. I guess it makes the player feel more autonomous.

This should work fairly well with my current design as the number of monsters ramps with how many monsters you've already killed. However, I can't quite easily predict the route that the player is going to take so I may have a few problems with pacing (?)


- They switch up the environment every few levels.

For variety and a feeling of progression I assume. It's always an adrenaline rush when you first come across a new area with new enemies.

I may not be able to do this in the prototype but it's definitely something to consider for the final build.


- No crosshair

I'm not entirely sure what the purpose of this is in GunGodz. It could be because they want the game to feel more like the games they were inspired by; Quake and Doom. Or it could be for the slight increase in difficulty.

Maybe it's just because I've played these kind of games before but I was never going to put a crosshair in Twin Miners anyway. If a monster runs at the player I want them to panic, miss a bunch and waste all their ammo. However, I'm currently considering adding it as a purchasable item from the vendor.


- At the start of each stage, you have no choice but to shoot a guy

Arin Hanson would probably refer to this as 'defining the core gameplay mechanism from the offset'. In other words, it's a statement; this game is about shooting people. It also teaches the player that left click is shoot.

Since shooting is optional in my game I'm not going to do this in my game but maybe I can always open up with a zombie facing away from the player or something. It's an explicit choice KILL or HIDE.