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ACE TANK

CONCEPT

The objective is to overcome enemy defences, take out their turrets, and enjoy the thrill of battling in diverse environments.

*Project duration:- 23 days

*Team size:- Solo

*Major role:- Designer (System, Level, Environment)

*Goal:-  

  • Study components of tower defence and how I might modify them.

  • Generate a sense of being in various landscapes and environments.

  • Simple-to-use controls. Player in-game abilities will remain constant.

  • Designing levels so that the player must use strategy to complete them.

  • Constraints: The whole game should be without any elevations.

PLOT

During a war between two countries, a special ops team is assigned a critical mission to invade the enemy ranks and disable their control tower, which is essential for ally forces to launch a frontal attack and win the war. To ensure the success of the mission, the team calls in their ace tank, which possesses both power and precision, to proceed with the invasion under the cover of darkness.

As the ace tank silently enters enemy territory, something seems amiss—the enemy is on high alert, indicating a potential betrayal. With no option to retreat, the ace tank must eliminate all enemy camps one by one and ultimately reach the control tower to disable it and ensure victory for their allies.

SYSTEM DESIGN

The game was balanced by using the big turret's values as a reference point to determine the default values of the player tank and other turrets. These values were then adjusted through multiple playtests to achieve the desired balance.

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How I decided big turret’s values? I followed a three-step approach. First, I determined the range at which the turret would be visible to the player. Then, I chose a fire rate that felt appropriate for its slow nature, but not so long that it would feel boring or unresponsive to players. Finally, I determined the turret's health such that it would take a reasonable number of shots to destroy, striking a balance between being strong and heavy, yet not frustratingly difficult to defeat. Overall, the resulting values for the big turret create a persona that is strong and heavy, difficult to destroy, and requires time and power to launch projectiles over a long distance.

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The player tank is designed to have high manoeuvrability, allowing it to dodge projectiles from medium and long range (although not at close range). To maintain a challenging game, the tank has a slightly greater firing range and twice the health of the medium turret. Additionally, the player has the ability to nullify enemy projectiles by aiming correctly, adding an extra feature to the game. Other blocking objects could also be used as cover for the player.

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Enemy behaviour: The enemy turrets in the game have distinct behaviours and roles. The Big Turret is designed to distract and occupy the player, while the Small Turret is designed to deal significant damage. Medium turrets are flexible and can be used in combination with other turrets. They are also protected by walls, blocks, and rocks, while the Big Turret can fire over all of them except for rocks. The medium turret can only fire over walls. The short turrets are efficient for hiding in bushes, but they cannot fire over any objects. This diverse behaviour ensures that the player must adapt their tactics based on the enemy they encounter.

Narrative

NARRATIVE

To convey the idea of infiltration, I showed the start from little outskirts of the nation with little greenery, soil terrain. Eventually, I showed outside town which has become the battlefield and then the snow area which describes central area of enemy territory. This way player will feel entering and progressing deeper into enemy nation, ending up with the final big clash.

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Game difficulty: To increase the game's difficulty, I focused on turret quantities, combinations of different turrets, and map size. I followed the level progression structure of "introduce-practise-challenge-repeat," which maintains a good balance between difficulty and player improvement.

 I also implemented an N-curve difficulty (i.e., high at the centre, low at the end) in each level, with different difficulty zones for novice and hardcore players. Each level offers easy and hard ways to clear it, with the player's actions determining the level of challenge. Additionally, I placed props in a certain way to direct the player on the path that provides a normal challenge and the best experience of that level.

LEVEL DESIGN

Level dsign

Greyboxing: To create an engaging game, I designed a greybox to test how players would make decisions and explore different aspects of the level. To accomplish this, I carefully placed props that either obstructed certain areas or provided cover for turrets. Choosing between rocks, walls, or blocks was crucial for gameplay because it influenced player and enemy cover tactics. Additionally, I strategically placed turrets to guide the player through the level without making it seem predetermined. I experimented with different turret combinations and placements to create varied challenges for the player. Throughout the process, I constantly asked myself what I would enjoy as a player and how I would make decisions, and tested accordingly.

Level 1 is the outskirts with fewer turrets in the camp. It has a minimalistic design, serving as a practice level for the player without looking like one. At the start, the player learns the controls and encounters their first enemy, allowing them to learn about shooting mechanics. Moving forward, they encounter the first enemy variant, the short turret, in the arena. This level helps the player get comfortable with the controls and enemies.

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Level 2 takes place in the rocky camp area and introduces the big turret and a new block prop. I significantly increased the difficulty (as shown in the difficulty graph) to challenge the player to apply their learned skills and come up with new ways to overcome obstacles. The ultimate goal is to improve the player's skills by the end of Level 2.

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Level 3 is a snowy terrain, which indicates that the player has entered the main central area of enemy territory. This area has new defence tactics, combining all turret variants with new prop structures. The difficulty only slightly increases (as shown in the difficulty graph) to allow the player to adapt to the new defence structures and avoid frustration. This approach trains the player to handle the new challenges rather than overwhelming them.

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Pathways serve as a cool-down system, giving the player a break before the next big fight. However, there are hidden turrets strategically placed to surprise the player and keep them engaged in the game. A shortcut path connects level 3 and 1, allowing the player to travel back to where they started (for nostalgia, perhaps). Enemies are also present along the way to maintain the excitement and freshness of the game. It only gets unlocked after clearing level 3.

ENVIRONMENT

The game is set at midnight in a cold and foggy atmosphere to depict a snowy country ravaged by war. I tried to show the effects of war on the terrain through patches and boundaries. The feel of the game is enhanced by adding fire torches, smoke, and flames scattered throughout the environment, as well as damaged turrets and tanks. However, these are placed in a way that does not interfere with gameplay.

Environment

UI/UX

The number of turrets destroyed is prominently displayed in the top-left corner of the screen to show player progression and achievement. The health bar is kept big and at the bottom, slightly shifted to the right to visually feel centred. This screen position had more negative space available, allowing the bar to fit perfectly without blocking the game view (as the tank is usually moving forward most of the time). This design ensured that the UI elements did not interfere with the gameplay, giving the player a comfortable and immersive experience.

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To provide proper feedback to the player when they are hit or hitting a target, I added camera shakes and sound effects. The camera shakes help to visually communicate the impact of the hit, while the sound effects provide an auditory cue.

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For the main menu, I opted for a clean and minimalistic design, using a dark tone with a bluish tint to create a particular mood. I chose fonts that best suited the theme to ensure that the overall design was cohesive and visually appealing.

Challenge

DESIGN PROCESS

I used a hybrid approach of both agile and waterfall methodologies for the development of this project.

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  1. Brainstorm what components or mechanics the game needs to have. And derive a mission structure around the game elements and story to create a meaningful experience.

  2. Design combat systems and enemy types. Prototype those behaviours and balance them.

  3. Level blocking, balancing enemies, and prop placement Test core gameplay. Refine the game system and structure level difficulties to create smooth game progression for players.

  4. Replace grey boxes with visual elements. Research on how to convey the narrative to the player, what visual aspects to use to create the feel, and how every element of the game is defined Implement UI elements, BG music, sfx, and vfx. Playtest and refine the levels.

  5. Final test and polish. Check the level exploration. Work on minor details here and there and refine the game even more.

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I iterated through different steps as needed, continuously refining the process through a build-test-refine cycle.

CHALLENGES

>> Landscape rework: The mistake I made was constructing the terrain before the grey box level was complete, resulting in improper mapping. To fix this, I had to reconstruct the entire terrain based on the level blockout, resulting in a more balanced final output. This experience taught me the importance of trusting the development process.

>> Plot change: Initially, the game was set in the daytime with a desert theme, but it felt incomplete. I consulted with friends, and one suggested that "If there is a tank, then it has to be on a mission, and there has to be some backstory about it". This sparked the idea of a war between countries and the tank's mission, leading to a change in the game's theme, such as a snowy landscape, nighttime setting, and campsite torches.

>> Goal setting: Initially, the game displayed the number of turrets left to be destroyed, but this was not engaging for the player. Instead, I changed it to show the number of turrets destroyed, which made the game more exciting and competitive. This small change solved the problems and provided a new perspective. I learned that even small changes can have a big impact on the game experience.

>> Overlapping texts: During the prototyping stage, I encountered an issue of overlapping texts. The text of the count of destroyed turrets was getting overlapped with every new entry. I was checking the destruction from the C++ script and writing functionalities for UI inside the blueprint. After spending many hours searching for a solution, I manually debugged the issue and discovered that destroying every new turret was creating a new instance of the blueprint function, which resulted in the old values not getting erased. I solved this issue by destroying all instances and then printing a new one. This taught me that identifying the root cause of a problem is the key to finding a solution.

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>> Personal Challenge: I set a challenge for myself to design the entire game without using any elevations. This forced me to only use 3 different prop combinations to create various levels while maintaining variety and difficulty progression. I also had to strategically place enemies to increase the level of difficulty.

Vision

FUTURE VISION

  • To maintain the story's pace, there will be cut scenes during significant moments and a few brief dialogues in between. Cut sequences will adhere to the semi-realistic overall theme.

  • Two-to-three more levels and the final fight sequence at enemy HQ. A running sequence, such as surviving and returning to your base, would make sense to me as the final event after achieving the goal. like an intense escape, low health, no replenishment, and constant bombardment.

  • A few side quests to encourage the player to explore the world more thoroughly and learn more about the plot.

  • Adding SFX and VFX such as snowfall and storms. Additionally, player tank physics should be improved for a stronger feedback loop.

  • New enemy types with more adaptable behaviours will increase the game's variety and difficulty. I had the idea to include a few extra mechanics and puzzle structures, such as certain traps typically seen in bases, a kind of code to decipher, and locating keys or coordinates that are helpful in the final game.

  • Although it is additional, I think TPP might make it even better. More environmental elements and mobile enemy tanks could be included.

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