The Other Fries3
A Beat Em Up Adventure Where You Bring the Fight Against Unhealthy Food to the Streets
My Roles
Combat Design and Programming
I programmed the enemy combat AI, all of their abilities, all of the player movement and abilities and the (relatively) simplistic combo system we implemented.
One of my favorite aspects of this game's Design is the Enemy Ai behavior. The ranged and melee enemies behave differently. The melee enemies have a manager that will set some of them to pursue the player directly and some to just menace around the player. The number is dynamic depending on conditions in the game. The ranged enemies's unique behavior is that they will try to flee away from the player if they get too close.
Another aspect I love is the player special ability. Inspired by the special in Streets of Rage 4, the special ability does a ton of damage but also wagers some of the player's health. If they can do enough damage without getting hit, they can actually gain some health back.
Level Design
I designed the second main level of the game. To the left is the map that I used for the greybox layout of the level. It's a longer level than the first Level, with several more combat encounters. There is a thematic/aesthetic switch about halfway through, when the level transitions from an office to a laboratory.
When I was designing for this level, I wanted to try something new in this project: vertical movement. The first level of the game has almost exclusively horizontal movement, which is typical of a beat Em Up of this style, but I think a variety of movement is important. Plus, I enjoy challenges and making something new.
There were some difficulties regarding this approach, but ultimately i think it turned out well. We were having issues with perspective, but the way I got around that was mixing up the movement to provide both horizontal and vertical movement. This picture on the right shows The zoomed out view of the level, highlighting the mixture of vertical and horizontal movement.
Another fun element I added was verticality in "z-space" (in a 2d game). There is a raised platform at the end of the level which contains a challenging combat encounter and a cool looking room. However, the player can actually sneak under the platform to find an easter egg on the other side. I wanted to reward player creativity and exploration.
I also wanted to make this level challenging, as this level represents the culmination of the player's skills, but not to the point of impossibility. In that vein, the hardest combat encounters are the ones that are optional, and those optional encounters ramp up as the player progresses through the level.
