More content in roguelike WOODPUNK through different game modes! feature

Post feature Report RSS More content in roguelike WOODPUNK through different game modes!

This weeks article is on how we approached creating new content through different game modes. We will dive into how the different game modes work, and how we create replayability.

Posted by meteorbyte-studios on Oct 24th, 2018

Hi guys!

We are in heavy crunch mode, as we are expecting to launch WOODPUNK throughout November. Polishing and bettering the game is the main focus here in the office, as we tweak the latest game modes WOODPUNK is going to have at launch.

As we mentioned in our previous post, this week’s feature article will be related to the different game modes players can find and how we promote replayability through them. Some of these game modes are currently under works, so we want to explain how we are developing them!

The core game

First, we centered our efforts in the core aspects and mechanics WOODPUNK has. We developed how the players would fight and how the different levels would be created. Last week we explained how we developed the tech tree and how this determined the fighting styles the players could enjoy.

Once we were satisfied with the game’s core mechanics, we started developing the story mode. WOODPUNK’s story mode is centered on the game’s world map which contains 5 different stages. Each stage has different bosses and enemies, for which the player will have to employ different strategies to defeat. Once we were comfortable with the results, we started developing other game modes to increase game experience and future player satisfaction.

Story Mode

As previously said, the story mode is centered on a world map with 5 stages. The player can access at any moment 4 of the 5 stages. Once the player defeats the first 4, they will be able to access the last stage. The 5 different stages are numerated to represent the difficulty each stage has and how the player should defeat them, as from stage 1 to stage 5 the game will get progressively harder. These stages are named after 13^th century legendary cities, such as G-Nova and ...Rhomega?

The players will land directly into the fight in each map of the story mode. As a way to entertain the player and better their experience, we developed more content by creating 3 different fighting rounds, each with its own strategy and enemies:

Survive a predetermined number of rounds against waves of enemies
Protect a machine for a predetermined amount of time.
Destroy the artifact (Work in Progress)

Depending on the world map he has preselected, the player will have to survive a larger amount of time, or a larger amount of rounds. More difficult worlds will require the player to fight more enemies for more time!

Survival Round

The Survival rounds are straight forward. The player will have to fight off and survive a set amount of enemies. Each wave will get progressively harder as more and more enemies will spawn! Once they kill these enemies, the capsule which brought them to the map will launch them once again to the next round.

Protect the machine

Here in Meteorbyte Studios, we consider ourselves simple people, so we called the protect the machine mode “Protect the machine”

Here, the player will have to fight off several waves of enemies as they try to destroy a machine for a predetermined time period. Special enemies will only spawn in protect the machine mode, the Miner and the Candlehead. These enemies will not attack the player, but head directly towards the machine and try to destroy it. As time progress, more enemies will spawn increasing the difficulty of the game. Once the preset time has passed all enemies will disappear and the player will be able to leave the battleground in his capsule.

To make game play more interesting, the last wave of enemies the player will have to fight in “Protect the machine” will seem overwhelming.

Destroy the artifact.

This is a new game mode we are currently developing and testing, so everything is a work in progress and can be subject to changes!

The player will again land with his capsule directly into the fight. The objective of this game mode is to destroy the artifacts the player encounters. The player will have a predetermined set of time to destroy the artifact, but this time can be extended by destroying turrets found around the map. Once per round a special wave of enemies will spawn depending on the battleground the player is fighting in, e.g, in “Sicily-Alpha” the final boss is “The Necromancer” who spawns skeletons, a weak but fast enemy that chases the players. In the special round of “protect the artifact” the player will have to fight a massive horde of skeletons.

As the player advances through the story mode and enters more difficult world maps, the preset times will decrease and a higher number of enemies will spawn.

Replayability

There are a few ways in which we promote replaybility through the story mode:

First, in order for the player to receive all suits, they must complete several runs of the story mode. After completing the first 5 worlds maps, the player will receive a new suit called “Underpunk”. This will increase the game difficulty called “New Game Plus” as is in fashion. By once more completing the story mode with the Underpunk suit, the player will unlock the “GlassPunk” suit. This suit one shot everything in the game, including bosses. Therefore, if a player wants to 100% the game, we insure at least two complete game runs for them, and we award hardcore fans with exclusive suits which are difficult to possess.
We included achievements that players can only get if they recollect enough “scrap”, the currency gained when killing enemies throughout the story mode. This achievement synergizes well with one of the suits the player can use, “GreedPunk”. If the players are able to recollect more scrap they will be able to also develop their tech tree faster, awarding them with more achievements.

Survival Mode

Currently we have developed one survival mode, but might revamp other in game assets to produce more!

The player can only access this mode if he has completed the 3 world maps.

So here the player’s objective will be to survive the maximum number of rounds possible. The player will fight against countless hordes of enemies with the sole objective of surviving, but no matter what, doom awaits.

The layout of this game mode consists of the player landing in a random world map, and fighting against 5 rounds of enemies. If he defeats these 5 rounds of enemies, he will fight against a random final boss. After defeating the final boss, the capsule will fall and the player will be taken to the next world map, where the player will find a new world map with 5 more rounds of enemies.

Survival mode will be one of the main in game assets that promote replayability. By including an online characteristic such as the leaderboard, and achievements like “Honorable Mention” which are awarded to players that reach top position in the leaderboards, and “Champion” for the contender that reaches the top positions of the leader board we want the player to enjoy the healthy competition of “online” gameplay. Throughout the player’s survival run, enemies will drop “chips” that will contribute to the player’s final score.

Thanks to these game modes, and the replayability offered through achievements, suits, and the wide variety of weapon combinations available, we aim that players have the best experience possible, and feel a new experience with every fight.

Thanks for reading a new feature article for WOODPUNK! If you want more info on the game please follow our social media pages or join our Discord server, where you’ll get the latest information.