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.

Mayhem 3 - What it is?

Mayhem 3 has a long and not so interesting history. Long story short: it's been in development for over 2 years and started out as a completely different game. Almost nothing remains from that time, however, as everything has been revamped over and over.

As it is today, Mayhem 3 is an excessive, unabashedly violent and epic platformer that prides itself on "style over substance." That doesn't really mean anything, but it's pretty catchy, eh? The style comes in through the diving system. Double tap a direction and you'll be sent hurdling through the air, guns blazing at will. You will hardly ever lose control over your actions, and there's hardly a moment you can't pick a direction and blast away.

Mig Carter comes home from a lovely taco dinner to find a man from the future laying on the ground and spilling blood all over his carpet! What's a man to do? Well, turns out giant bunnies (How wacky) gave him his wound, and apparently they went back in time with him to do some Terminator-like, history changing shit. The man, John Bullets, hero of Mayhem 1 and 2, of which you haven't played and never will, obviously cannot stop them with such a large, gaping hole in his pancreas, but Mig! Mig is a strapping young lad! He can handle some guns! He can save humanity!

Is it an action game? Is it a platformer? Is it some freak combination of both? Well, yeah, the last option. You'll have some epic shootouts sure enough, with dozens of different weapons and multitudes of enemies (bunny and non-bunny), but there's also going to be a fair amount of hopping and dodging. After you complete a stage, you can revisit it later and maybe unlock a few secrets with the new weapons you've picked up. Maybe you're just going for the high score, who knows? Each stage has a gimmick, so if the combat won't do it for you, the variety and creativity might just. One minute you'll be guiding employees to their respective pimps to open the toll booth, and the next you just might be dodging for cover as acid rain pours down.

The natural sense of humor is prevalant, and you might spot a few pop-culture references, but at the end of the day this is a SERIOUS GAME ABOUT GIANT BUNNIES TAKING OVER THE WORLD. I run a no-nonsense shift! Lots of cutscenes and dialogue planned and written, though. Some of it might make you giggle, but don't do it in front of me because this is SERIOUS DRAMA FROM THE HEART. You'll face a veritable plethora of cunning foes, each with such nuance and depth! Like Sgt. Hoppy, who runs the 4th division rabbit soldier training facility. He lost his father, man. At an early age! That shit will turn you to a life of crime!

So prepare to go to war with the bunnies. Prepare to cross the desert, travel the abandoned highway, go through the old factories, traverse the city, navigate the criminal underworld, escape from the evil genius' lair and dig deep into the bunnies' nest. But I haven't actually finished any of these areas, so do me a favor and hold your breath while you wait for Mayhem 3!

Welcome to my Devlog

Welcome to the devlog (As in, not blog) of my most prominent game making project:



Here's the official description:

The development log for the ridiculously epic action run-and-gun platforming game, Mayhem 3. Bunnies and a whole host of other threats are taking over the Earth, and it's up to you to slice and dice them with dozens of weapons, including rocket launchers, samurai swords, uzis, shotguns and the coveted and original Screamer. There are many levels with many themes, each containing unique playstyles, and cutscenes with dialogue.

Thanks for reading about this project. Keep checking back here, so I can unload onto you all the wonderful things I'll be doing with it in the future.