Oliver Engström
.png?etag=%2247832e-57ebc88e%22&sourceContentType=image%2Fpng&ignoreAspectRatio&resize=302%2B470&extract=0%2B0%2B302%2B442)
Shield
Roles: Configuration Manager, Enemy Designer, Programmer
About Shield:
Shield is a retro inspired 2d platformer in which you play as a silent protagonist who lost her swordarm and is left with only a shield to defend herself against her former companions as she has been branded a traitor by the rulers of the land.
General Design:
The game revolves around using the shield to overcome the games obstacles.
Level Design:
We wanted the vertical slice to be able to stand on its own and for that we needed two things.
Introducing the mechanics in the same sence as a tutorial.
Provide an experience that is representative of the potential full game.
Enemies:
As we planed on having the vertical slice double as a tutorial we decided that the enemy design was not to be overwhelming and for it to be reminicent of enemies in tutorial levels of other games in the genre.
There were five types enemies, all of whom does damage on thouch.
Turtle: The turtle is the most simple one in the game. It walks in one direction until it hits a wall or a destructable object and then it turns around.
Snake: The snake follows the player character if it is in range.
Flower: The flower is a stationary enemy that shoots projectiles toward the player character which can be blocked if they enter shield mode.
Bird: The bird was more of an obstacle than the rest as it did not care about the player character and only moved in a set pattern.
Boss BuffDude/Matara: While he is an enemy he deserves a section of his own.
Swedish Game Awards
Mechanics:
As we wanted a game that a speedrunner could enjoy as well as a more casual player, we focused heavilly on making the game intuitive with possible flow in the level design supporting it.
As it is a 2D platformer we had basic movements of the genre, jump and horizontal movement.
We tried figuring out possible uses of a shield and that set the boundry of what we could do mechanicly outside of general movement mechanics. These are the mechanics that ended up in the vertical slice.
Shield Mode
The first use we came up with for a shield was its original use. The player can enter shield mode and while stationary the player character pulls the shield in front of them. The player can angle the shield to protect themselves against projectiles from different direction but cant move while in this mode.
Shield Dash
With the goal of having fast paced game with flowing gameplay we figured we needed a short dash to speed up the pace and to enable a more fun speedrunning experience. Initially the dash was able to kill enemies as well as block projectiles from the front but that proved to powerfull as that only promted players to constantly dash with generally no obstacles.
Shield Bash
We needed a way to fight an enemy so the solution came naturally, we punch the enemies. The bash is a short range punch that damages the enemies in front of the player. It can also destroy destructable object i the players path. Due to the short range of the shield bash it did not see much use as players would often take damage when punching.
Shield Throw
This is an alternate way of breaking destructable objects. Being able to throw the shield increased the flow of the game. The shield recoiled back if it hit a destructable object or an enemy to which the player could catch it to avoid a cooldown before it could be thrown again.
If the shield hit a wall or plattform it would stick to it and become an extra plattform.
Shield Bounce
The player can while being in the air enter shield mode and point downwards on the controll stick to preform a shield bounce. This also did damage damage to enemies and destroyed destructabel objects. This is the most powerfull mechanic in the game as it provided mobility and damage while not risking taking damage. This warped the gameplay and leveldesign somewhat but it was part of what made the game fun so we kept it in.
Programming:
There were three programmers and we wrote in C#. W didn't have a code strukture that we adhered to but it didn't hinder us as we had good communication and the same vision we strived toward.
The Boss:
As we went out to create a game in a set genre we knew that we could not exclude the highlight of a level.
He was the product of my time and while I got feedback from the other designers he was my responsibility.
Basicly he alternates between sprinting and performing melee attacks in rapid succession, calling down fire, and throwing his spear which he then can recall or dash to (depending on the player's position in relation to the boss).
When he has been damaged to lower than his maximum health he changes into his secand stage. In his second stage he lights his spear on fire and the stab becomes unblockable by the player's shield.
At the end of the project we thought that he was easy after working with him for a while so we buffed him so that we could barely beat him without dying. The responce from independent players was largely positive, they loved the challenge while those who didn't weren't as familiar or experienced with the genre.
