Mayhem 3: The demo!

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Okay... Here's a demo of a game I've been working on for years. It's a somewhat violent action platformer with mouse-controlled shooting and a whole lot of cinematics. Of course I also have this blog thing which describes it (as it was a year ago when I last updated it) so you probably have some idea of what it's like.

Although I wasn't planning to release this until nearing completion, I may or may not have been talked into showing the public what I have. Controls are fully customizable, there's a comprehensive in-game tutorial, and it's mostly a whole lot of set-piece action sequences, so pretty much jump in and have fun (hopefully).

SCREEN 1
SCREEN 2
SCREEN 3
SCREEN 4

Let me tell you about the rabbits.

So even though I made an entire game between now and the last M3 update doesn't mean M3 is stagnant. In fact, it's got a nice pace to it. I've added global physics for enemies using qualifiers and incremental moving and it's rather beautiful. It supports both x/y and angular movement (The latter being used for bullet knockback physics--can you say "air-juggling?"), separate optional gravity and all the flexibility needed for enemies ranging from giant bunnies to floating metallic penises.

Bunny juggling: not as bad as kitten juggling.

Furthermore, I have adapted many old enemies to this new structure. Old favorites (Well, they're MY favorites) like Walkens, Mech bunnies, Rice guys and crotch rockets (Not pictured) have made the switch, and with pleasing results.

I don't think this blog needs another Walken pun

THEY NEVER EXPECTED... THE BUNNIES

Riceguy makes a bad career move.

Trick or Treat

Just in time for Halloween, I've finished a new game! Trick or Treat is the winner of Klik Academy's 2006 Halloween competition, and finds you as a man looking for some treats, but unfortunately will have to go through quite a few tricks to get to them.

The neighborhood was built over an indian burial ground, and the streets are filled with zombies and ghouls, so chainsaw-em-up to reach each of the 5 houses and receive your treats!

Features 3 different horrendously powerful powerups and buckets of blood.

Art by friend Steven Burgess. Code and levels and stuff by me.

DOWNLOAD HERE

BIG LONG SCREENSHOT

I've been working on some shit! Some shit that's not the same desert I've been working on the last 2 years!

Ginsu knives and Gunnery

I've actually been doing some straight-up serious shit lately. Melee weapons have always been a problem for Mayhem 3 because the torso can not be animated, and believe me, animating one arm for a sword slash is not fun. What I opted to do was continue the game's approach of animating the weapon stuff using a process called KEYFRAME ANIMATION, or something.

So, I manually move my arm and wrist joints to create a slashing movement, but the kicker is, I did this in a way that allows me to reuse all this code for multiple melee weapons. As it is right now, I can add in a picture of a frozen chicken, and maybe 5 lines of code, start up the game and Mig will be wacking things with it.

Another breakthrough is the weapons handling system. After playing Quake 4, and realising how terrible it was to constantly have to switch back and forth between the 10 weapons midfight, I decided to do away with the weapons collectathon that's been prevalant in action games since Wolfenstein 3D. Frankly, it's getting a little old. I deleted all the weapon handling code that was inplace, and added a framework for something similar to how FarCry did its weapons. You don't have to cycle through 10 different weapons, but rather choose your own loadout by picking up weapons in the field.

Initially you can hold 2 at once, and swap them out for something else you see any time you want. The biggest benefit of this, surely, is that I can make as many weapons as I want, and make them as gimmicky or selective as I want, because ultimately it's up to you wether you're going to be blasting bunnies with them. And when you explore that last nook or cranny and find some secret nuclear missile launcher, I think you'll agree, it's going to be really fucking rewarding.

Mayhem 3 Media

Walken into a trap!


Mig fights cancer


Mig gives the Emo something to cry about.

Mayhem 3 Progress

Engine: 95%

The movement is almost totally finished. The new weapon system is very flexible and easy to add to. I've done a rather brilliant framework for adding melee weapons aswell, and have painstakenly made it so this game supports bother dual and single weapons while still not having a single preset arm-based animation. The taking damage system, however, still needs finishing, and I still haven't decided wether he drops guns or throws them when they go empty.

Graphics: 20%

One graphic set (Mexico) is pretty much complete, but I need some adobe housing tiles still. I haven't done much in the way of level graphics while still making the engine, but I have done some really nice giant animated gears for the factory set. Many weapons, enemies and animations are done, but again, the engine has been the quagmire here. Oh and I drew some swank portraits for the dialogue, aswell.

Sound: 80%

This doesn't really matter right now...

Music: 0%

And I'm certainly not taking care of this shit yet.

Design: 85%

Oh boy, design! There's one I like! I've planned out every single level, but there's still things needing to be done. I don't know how many more weapons I'm going to make, and I'm uncertain on bosses altogether. There's also probably going to be more enemies, so I need to sit down and decide on what.