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Core Idea
Downtown Showdown is centred around the idea of movement in combat.
Each element (player, enemies, arena, and upgrades) had to actively support the “movement in combat” core idea.
Much of the game’s identity is also inspired by arena shooters, as can be seen by the use of pickups, the style of weapon inventory, health & armour, and ammo design. Games like Unreal Tournament were a major reference during development.
I aimed for an experience that involved the mastery of movement with quick and reactive gameplay.
Game Design
The mechanic that changed it all:
The secrets of movement discovered:
With all the movement-related actions that the player can perform, such as dashing and sliding, it was eventually discovered that the combination of these movesets can allow the player to build up and maintain ungodly amounts of momentum. This emergent gameplay makes the movement system so much deeper and it provides more experienced players with a rewarding challenge to master.
Enemies that get you moving:
I wanted the enemies to have unique attack patterns and behaviours, all the while making use of the “movement in combat” core idea. An example of this is enemy stunning. Head stomping (jumping on an enemy’s head) and tripping (sliding into an enemy) will stun an enemy and make them more vulnerable to damage. Some enemies even have shields that can only be disabled by stunning the enemy. This works by encouraging players to use movement mechanics in every encounter.
Upgrades sealed the deal:
The introduction of upgrades was done to give players the incentive to keep their momentum up during combat. It also provides players with more autonomy over how they want their character to be improved to match the playstyle they desire. Upgrades greatly benefit the game’s pacing, player motivations, and interactions between mechanics.
Level Design
An arena for momentum:
The map revealed, little by little:
Early on in development, players were overwhelmed by having access to the whole arena from the moment the game began. It was changed so that new areas get revealed after each wave has been defeated, which helps with introducing new pickups and weapons during a playthrough while also improving pacing and creating a bit of surprise after each successful wave.
An arena shooter at heart:
Pickups are a core component of the game’s design, and their placement in the arena was of great concern. Weapon pickups were spread out evenly across the map to encourage the player to engage with the whole arena and make use of newly revealed zones. However, health pickups were concentrated in the centre of the map so that players always knew where they needed to get to in emergencies.
Iteration
Genre mixing:
The original plan was to make an arena shooter, or at least a game based on arena shooter design tropes. The idea of mixing an arena shooter with the gameplay loop of a wave-based game jump-started the actual development of the game that would become Downtown Showdown.
An arena with pickups, waves of different enemies, and arena shooter style guns were present in the game’s identity early on.
Follow the fun:
After adding a few movement mechanics to the game, namely sliding and dashing (which could be used to launch the player off of slopes), playtests showed that players really enjoyed the movement aspect of the game. I decided to follow the fun and put more of an emphasis on movement.
A painful playtest leads to an epiphany:
Even with more of a focus on movement, it was clear that, after agonising playtests, there wasn’t enough in the game’s design to really get players moving during combat.
So I repurposed a mechanic from one of the game’s weapons and created a new core mechanic, the battery. It discouraged players from standing still in combat and greatly rewarded players who used the movement mechanics effectively during encounters. It helped get players moving around more and experiencing the game closer to what I wanted.
The end of a story - a successful prototype:
The scale and scope of development quickly became clear to me. Even as a passion project, I realised that the game required tonnes more development and polish in order to be truly “finished”. In the end, as an extensive, balanced, and feature-complete prototype, it succeeds in achieving the player experience that I aimed for and was well received by playtesters and players.
Evaluation
Did I achieve the goals I set out for the game?
By the end of development, I believe I achieved the goals of creating a game centred around “movement in combat” and one that merges arena shooter style gameplay with wave-based mechanics for an interesting game experience. But, the game’s design can definitely be improved upon and experimented with further.
What I like:
The movement mechanics in the game feel robust and fun to use. Traversing around the level and using your momentum in combat is a highlight of gameplay.
The upgrade system and individual upgrades really help with rewarding movement during combat, creating more depth, and adding more player autonomy and decision-making.
The arena is really fun to traverse, and its level design elegantly merges the wave-based combat with the arena shooter style identity of the game.
What I dislike:
I often question if the gameplay loop around waves of enemies makes the most of the game’s core mechanics. It’s definitely fun, but I feel that the movement mechanics might better exist in another context.
The enemy AI was difficult to design and develop as there are times when enemies often clump together. I also feel that more could’ve been done with the enemy behaviour around the “movement in combat” core idea.
The tutorial level serves its purpose, but I would’ve liked to have designed the tutorial directly into the main gameplay experience without it existing as a separate mode.
What I would do differently if I were to start again:
Discovering a core mechanic or experience first and having a clearer vision initially for the game would’ve greatly helped with development. The merging of genres provided a start, but I feel it sort of limited the potential of going all in on the movement mechanics and finding a gameplay loop that perhaps could’ve made more use of movement during gameplay.
How I feel about the end result:
Despite the initial lack of a clear vision, I found the fun in its design and tried to hone in on the most successful mechanics. I iterated on the design to make a game that was fun, fluidly controlled, and had engaging movement mechanics. I learned a lot and can use aspects of this game in future projects. Overall, I am pleased with its design and my work.
What I would add/change if development continued:
The arena shooter identity can be further merged with the movement mechanics. How can pickups, weapons, and enemy designs focus more on movement in combat? Maybe pickups are unlocked with movement challenges, and maybe the enemies have abilities closer to the player, requiring the player to think more about using movement to gain an advantage.
Certain mechanics can be ported from this game into a new game where the main focus is on movement, but that isn’t concerned with being an arena shooter or wave-based shooter. The game could include some combat, but it would be interesting to see the gameplay loop derive from the movement mechanics and not from genre mixing.
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