- Inferno's Wrath -

Gameplay Video:

Music: 'Tunetank' https://pixabay.com/music/adventure-epic-battle-music-347288

-NOTES BEFORE PLAYING-

                                                     

Hello my name is Matthew, I am a games designer that specialises in combat design. This project was created due to inspiration from 'Santa Monica Studios'  the creators of 'God Of War Ragnarök' and their GDC talk held by 'Oliver, A' called "Breaking Barriers: Combat Accessibility in ‘God of War Ragnarök’" and because of their strides towards making their games more accessible to players. They have meaningful and  complex discussion about this topic and find the best way to implement these additions allowing anyone to feel like a God.

Notable accessibility features they added to their games: 

• A camera lock on reducing the need for the use of the right stick 
• Reducing input load, for example when climbing detect when a player is trying to climb a wall and climb instead of needing to use the bottom face butt

• Recentring camera to face enemy when attacking in a random direction
• Miniboss Checkpoints to make dying less punishing
• Evade Assist giving the player more invulnerability frames     

In my project you play as a Demon King where you have the energy of Hell running through your veins, this is being channelled through the ‘Inferno Axe’. You're able to throw this powerful weapon at enemies tethering them to Hell with the chains forged from their sins. You'll first need to retrieve the axe as it was stolen by the invasive demon goblins; a rouge group of creatures set out to overthrow the underground. When completed you'll have to fight through a custom wave based system of demon goblins that are trying to take over Hell itself. 

Through-out this project I have continued to playtest my combat with people from all experiences and skill levels of gaming to ensure I'm creating a fun fast paced combat prototype that anyone can play and enjoy. Although there is currently no way to make the game harder, I believe having this as a based to increase difficulty and add extra obstacles later on is very achievable. 

Notable changes made from playtesting information: 

• Players hated having to relock after a enemy died so I implemented a relock after enemy death feature and players found that this change made the combat feel really satisfying.
• Players really wanted more combo options so I added an attack without the axe; light = punch, heavy = kick, also I added a slam enemy down to the ground when air comboing.
• Players felt the axe didn't feel like it was giving enough enemy feedback so when it hits the ground enemies in a range fly into the air.
• The game feel in terms of the MC's weight didn't feel right they felt the movement was too slow in comparison to flying through the air attacking enemies so I upped the movement speed by double making it feel a lot faster, more interactive and engaging, players liked this change. 
• Players struggled to press the right stick to enable camera assist so I changed it to left bumper as it wasn't being used, this is definitely easier to press compared to the right joystick down. 
• Players struggled to understand the base combat layout just from reading the screen help, so I created a fun and story driven tutorial that simply explains the controls and how they work together allowing you to get the most out the wave system that's in place. 
• Some players find using different inputs easier than others so I made options to either: toggle or hold the throw axe input and make the main attacking a press or hold, depending on the players situation they'll be able to play it how they'd like. 
• Some other players complained the sensitivity was too slow so I included a sensitivity slider on the X and Y to allow player to customise this to their liking. 

Important areas I kept in mind during this project was controller feel e.i vibrations, base controller layout, camera assist controls which takes away the need to use the right stick, sensitivity and adjustable action controls (creating options to change from a press to toggle to hold). Other aspects i kept in mind to create the best feeling combat possible was things like: sound design, VFX, camera shakes and animations. Pairing all these aspects together creates a fun, accessible and cohesive combat system.

I wanted to create one accessibility feature that I've not seen be used before, so I came up with battle assist; after 3 seconds of not using the controller the game will fight for you making it less punishing if you struggle with fatigue in your hand after short periods of time, you are able to jump back in anytime by just using the controller again (this setting isn't on by default).

Overall I am very happy with the outcome of this project; not only because of the project itself but mostly what I've learnt from it. The importance of catering to these accessibility needs, thinking how can we make this more accessible and what makes fun engaging combat. These are lessons I'll take to other projects as every game needs to think more cohesively about accessibility.  

Extra Notes:

This game is only built for Xbox controller use as controllers are immensely more accessible than a keyboards according to research. 

To access the accessibility menu press the three lines button on the controller.

Currently the controller menu doesn't work.

To exit the game press alt f4 on the keyboard.

For best experience use headphones