The mid distance doughnut was typically where the level designer would want enemies to begin spawning. In some cases it was useful to create in your face ambushes, however. This was to avoid annoying damage from an enemy appearing right next to the player. The close distance was typically used to disable the spawner if the player got to, well, close. Two concentric rings marked the spawn distances (hence the doughnut naming). The two centric rings were visible when assembling the level and gave the level design team a clear view of how the level would react as the players navigated it. So, how did this work? Essentially, the distance controlled everything about the spawner. Max Active never have more than this many active enemies from this spawnerĬenter only on the center point of the spawnerĬlose random location within this distance Max Total stop spawning forever once this many enemies are created Random choose a random value from 0-1 and if its below this value for the distance, spawn the enemy This doughnut system was used for spawning hordes of enemies and with a few simple configurations and a bunch of overlapping spawners the level designers could make very complex setups without getting bogged down with fiddly implementations.Įach spawner had the following parameters:Įnabled the level designer could access the spawner via scriptĭistance how far from the player to consider the frequency and randomsįrequency Min / Max How often to try and spawn an enemy, chosen randomly between the min and max values The dynamic system was too dependent on other players being in the game.
VOLTRON DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE RING SERIES
Initially I wanted a shifting series of zones to follow the players around the level, adjusting as players were close or far from each other.Īfter a few experiments I found that this wasn't going to cut it and a simpler, static point spawn system was needed. This idea was in response to the 4 player coop mode. Originally I was thinking along the lines of the Left 4 Dead AI Director, where the zombie horde chose spawn points just outside the player's LoS to corral them into combat zones. The spawners were based on what became known as a doughnut system. Unfortunately, towards the end of the project a bug snuck in and a delay after the pounce landed on a tank meant the player was usually ejected from the tank, making this feature much more difficult for players to understand and take advantage of. After leaping on a tank, the player was prompted to then use melee to smash it to bits - this left the player vulnerable to nearby enemies since they couldn't shoot, but also stopped the tank from fighting back. The initial prototype versions worked great a simple mechanic that the player enjoyed. Depending on which lion, area effect damage of varying strengths and sizes was also included. Able to snatch fliers out of the air or jump on a tank and rip it to pieces. This seemed a missed opportunity to me I wanted the lion to 'throw' its entire body in an aggressive pounce. The original direction was to simply include grenades, exactly as they had been implemented in Assault Heroes. This feature got a lot of pushback at first. Again, the player is rewarded, even obligated, to push forwards, be assertive and aggressive. To halt the incoming bombardments the player had to push forwards and hunt down the enemies. I introduced this mechanic in the very first level. The player had a few seconds before the artillery would hit, usually plenty of time to avoid it as long as they didn't sit still. Some enemies had the ability to attack the player even when off camera - a large reticule would appear on the floor to telegraph the incoming attack. This however was exactly what I wanted the player had most visibility to the front and so had to push forwards and attack. The camera had a much further look ahead and angle adjustment than most were comfortable with - they wanted a more traditional top down view, saying that the player would lose visibility behind. Here I made a number of nonstandard choices - the camera was dynamic and I made it follow a number of different factors Each level extended this further, each one introducing a new type of gameplay for the player to learn and overcome. Each planet had its own unique setting and even weather. It also looked good, with cell shading and visual effects I based on the original cartoons. New spaceborne flying levels were included in a homage to Galaga and each environment featured unique and interesting gameplay. The game was aggressive - the lions moved like lions, using a series of blended animations and able to leap onto enemy tanks and fliers to rip them apart - removing the grenades from the Assault Heroes style concept.
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