Heroes vs. Robots
General information
| Link: | Heroes Vs. Robots |
| Platforms: | Meta Horizon (phone) |
| Genres: | Action, Casual |
| Company: | Vertigo Games |
| Development time: | 1+ Year |
| Engine | Meta Horizon Engine |
| Programming language | Typescript |
Introduction
In Heroes vs. Robots you play as a hero who received elemental powers. Together with other players you fight robots in an arena to defend and rescue civilians.
The game features 2 game mission types:
- Mayham: player need to defeat multiple waves of enemies.
- Sabotage: players need to destroy enemy generators to free captured civilians.
I've mainly worked on the concepting, prototyping and balancing of the player powers. While doing that I had to collaborate with artists, programmers and sound designers in order to get the best results. The game currently features 9 different powers, seperated in 3 different types and 3 different elements.
In addition to that I've also implemented some of the UI screens. This was all done in Typescript and React.
Design process
When I designed a new power, I first looked at the different kinds of behaviours that we had implemented for the other powers. We had a relatively short duration to work on an individual power, and reusing sets of behaviour in different configurations allowed us to spend more time on polishing the power.
After assessing what kind of configurations were still missing from the game and making an initial quick prototype I would make a page detailing what the power would look like and how much time it would cost to develop. After making the initial draft, I talked to people from the other disciplines, to hear their opinion on the concept and have a brainstorm session if needed. Below you see an example of a draft design page for the Eruption power.
Fire Ultimate - Eruption
The player slams their hand on the ground and unleashes an enormous magma eruption around themselves. This eruption is only present for a single tick of damage.
End Result
Expected time to develop:
- Implementation: 2 days
- Programming: 0.25 days
- VFX: 2 days
- 2D Art: 1 day
- Animation: 2 days
Programming
Most of the logic already exists. We need additional functionality to increase the gravity while this power is being used.
Icon
The icon of the Eruption power should visualize a fist hitting the earth and magma forming underneath it and shooting upwards.
Rare: Pool of magma underneath the fist.
Epic: Pool of magma underneath the fist, with ripples around the pool.
Legendary: Pool of magma underneath the fist, with ripples around the pool and cracks in the earth.
VFX
We need the following VFX:
- Flames surrounding the player’s hand, for when they start the striking motion towards the ground.
- Cracks on the ground.
- Magma, that shoots upwards in spike shapes.
- Small rocks that are launched upwards upon impact
Please keep in mind that the AOE size should be scalable.
Animation
The player huches forward and slams their right palm against the ground. At that moment magma erupts from the ground. The player returns to their neutral stand.
