Task Mania
Overview
In this game, I create a 3rd Person wave survivor set in a synthwave themed city. The goal was to create an endless wave survivor game with my own unique abilities and unique enemies. I also wanted to create an environment that constricted the player's movement to make them think about their movement instead of just running around aimlessly.
Developed in 2 months
Role: Gameplay Designer / Game Programmer (C++)
Tools: Unreal Engine 5 / Maya
Game Trailer
Gameplay Design
Inspirations
This game is based around the "Wave Survivor" genre. This involves groups of enemies spawning around you and as you defeat them, you earn experience to level up and gain new abilities. Two big inspirations for making Task Mania is Brotato and Vampire Survivors.
Overwhelming Enemies
One of my favorite parts about a wave survivor game is how enemies are always spawning and will surround the player causing them to panic. I wanted to create that and multiply it by creating a constricting environment. This will lead to the player trapping themselves and becoming flustered as the enemies are closing in on them.
Unique Player Upgrades
All wave survivor games have great upgrade options. This is also the most satisfying part of this genre as you get to keep increasing your power level and start to dominate enemies instead of being overwhelmed. In order to get upgrades, the player needs to collect experience and and level up.
Player Weapon Class
Another major feature in wave survivors is the ability to choose a default weapon class. This changes which weapon you get to attack with and can also change your defaults stats like health, speed, or damage. Its good to have a good variety of these classes as the player gets more options to choose and can explore each one until they have a favorite to play with.
Technical Design
Experience Points
Most wave survivor games include an experience points and level system. On level up, it gives the player an option to choose some ability or stat boost.
In my system, the player gains experience from enemies they defeat based on how much health they have. The player can also level up if they complete a task that is assigned to them. Once the player levels up, they can choose between upgrade options. The level is capped so you only get to choose 3 upgrades.
Weapon Class
There are 2 weapon class options the player can fight with which are: melee and range. Each class is unique from each other and provides a different gameplay experience.
The melee class launches two projectiles during their attack animation which apply damage on impact. The range class is an automatic rifle that does a line trace and applies damage to what ever it hits.
Ability Options
My ability options are divided into three different sections which are: player stats, abilities, and weapon stats. Each section then has 3 different choices.
Player stats give you the choice to double your health, double your speed, or increase your FOC from 90 to 120
Weapon stats give you the option to double your damage, apply knockback, or double the experience points earned.
Abilities give you the option to unlock a damage zone that surrounds the player and slowly chips away at enemies in range, 2 damage rotators that spin around the player and apply heavy damage and strong knockback, or an auto fire turret that constantly fires at enemies in range.
Objectives
The objectives the player is assigned is something I think is unique to my game as the player doesn't just have to run around the map and survive as long as possible while eliminating enemies. The objectives give another goal to chase while doing the other things.
An objective the player can get is to stay in a certain area for a certain amount of time. Another one is that the player has to deliver an object from one area to another. The last objective is for the player to get a certain amount of eliminations.
Enemies
To create an overwhelming environment, I need enemies and creating multiple types will help create a new experience as gameplay goes on.
There are 5 different types of enemies the player will encounter. Melee that charges the player. Range which keeps its distance and fires a projectile towards the player. Lob which launches an explosive at the player and explodes on impact. Brute which slowly makes their way to the player and does a slam when close enough applying massive amounts of damage.
Commentated Gameplay
Closing Thoughts
I really enjoyed this project and learned a lot from it. From designing a level and experience system to making unique unlockable abilities. From a technical design view, creating different systems and making them all work together was a challenge but one I think I succeeded in. I will use all the lessons I learned from this game to more easily design systems for my next game.