The UMP Strikes Back

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Recently, I got the chance to play PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS, the battle royale simulator that took the entire FPS community by storm and beat King of the Kill at its own game. I played on my friend’s account, and earned a single kill in my first (and as of this writing, only) round: https://gfycat.com/MintyWhimsicalBudgie I’m not gonna lie, that’s the reason I’m writing an article about the UMP right now. The Heckler & Koch Universale Maschinenpistole was made to serve as a lighter and cheaper alternative to the equally-famous MP5 sold by the same company. It’s known for being extremely moddable, and perhaps that’s… [Continue Reading]

Satisfactory Shooting: The End

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ouch

Previously I was talking about how guns should be designed for shooting to feel satisfying. Now, we’ll talk about how the targets need to be designed for the shooting to feel satisfying as well. First up, the environment should have some response when shot. Have brittle objects break, leave scorch marks and bullet holes on the walls, the whole works. It makes the map feels like an actual environment rather than just a static arena, and that helps immersion a lot. Hell, bring down a whole building or two, why not? Of course, the damage created should be proportional to… [Continue Reading]

Satisfactory Shooting: The Beginning

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pew pew

I was playing EDF: Insect Armageddon when this struck me: I really hate the Jet armour’s starting weapons. One of the energy rifles literally makes “pew pew pew” noises and they felt as impactful as throwing tofu at a tank. Less, in fact. At least the tofu will splatter in a rather interesting way. At first, I chalk that down to them being energy weapons. Conventional gunpowder-based firearms in games always feel good with the recoil, muzzle flares and the very loud “BANG!” each time you fire a shot. But then I remembered that the Cow Mangler 5000 is a… [Continue Reading]

Medical Necessity Dev Diary #2

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Hey everybody! Another week, another update for Medical Necessity! You may have noticed our last Dev Diary showcased footage consisting entirely of cylinders firing at each other, well not anymore! Ben’s been hard at work implementing placeholder animations and sprites so we have more attractive characters to watch as we work. It’s not always necessary to have artwork at such an early stage, but by getting the animations complete, we can tie certain behaviors to those animations and it creates less work down the line. Speaking of AI behaviors, Carry and Pat have been hard at work finding new ways… [Continue Reading]

In Defense of Redirection and Shields in Warframe

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A bunch of random Warframes.

After getting rid of one of my Riven Mods today, the person I traded with wanted to show me their collection of overpowered weapons that have been improved by their other Riven Mods. I wasn’t doing anything, so I happily joined them in the Simulacrum so they could show me their things. Honestly, I wasn’t that impressed, especially when they said “watch me survive these 8 level 130 Heavy Gunners” then proceeded to use Valkyr and her Hysteria. This person though freaked out when they saw my Volt Prime with my 1200 shields and only 420 health. They screamed that… [Continue Reading]

EDF: Insect Armageddon, a second look

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Banner

I played more EDF: IA after my first article on it. There are a few more things I want to talk about for this game. First up, Insect Armageddon is somewhat divisive among the larger EDF community as far as I can tell, at least for the Western audiences. It is so different from the main EDF games that a lot of people are put off by it before even trying it. The main series EDF games always have that very Japanese feel to them, while Insect Armageddon is, no other way to say it, distinctively Western. IA has a… [Continue Reading]

Workshop Irritation

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I used to visit the TF2 Workshop a lot. Back when I first went there, going through the Workshop queue is a joy. Sure, there are some cosmetic submissions that are just lazy, some are stupid, and some made me lose hope in humanity. But a lot of them are interesting, and some of them are jaw-droppingly fantastic. There are also some that made me genuinely angry at Valve for not adding them into the game. Why aren’t you adding Aristotle into the game Valve? It’s the best pet cosmetic for the Spy I’ve ever seen! Get lost, Backstabber’s Boomslang.… [Continue Reading]

Some Good Mods for Sentinels

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"Hi, I'm Helios and I'll be scanning things for you lazy bastards..."

I’ve mentioned a few times that Sentinels are better than Kubrows and Kavats. The reasons are obvious. Sentinels don’t run face first into danger, they are far easier to maintain, they are cheaper to make, you can give them different weapons and they don’t need to be fed. But Sentinels have the added bonus of also having more initial polarities than companions too. Which means you can squeeze more mods on your floating buddies. But what mods should you use? Before we start, when companions, it matters where your mods go. For mods that make your Sentinel actively do things… [Continue Reading]

Separating Lore From Gameplay

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The College of Winterhold, Skyrim

If you have a story to tell and a game to sell, many people often find that they don’t always go hand in hand. Or that anything really goes hand in hand. Yes, your main character guardian is supposed to be super powerful, but that doesn’t always mesh well with how the rest of the game is going to work. Generally, it’s like a hill. You start off small and weak, a no one in the story. As you climb, you become more powerful. You reach the end of the story and you’re, well, maybe not a god, but you’re… [Continue Reading]

Dev Diary #1 – Introducing Medical Necessity!

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Hi everybody! Last month I first mentioned my upcoming video game, Medical Necessity, and our team has been working hard on it since the new quarter started! I also mentioned that I’d be writing weekly articles chronicling the experiences I’ve had making a game as part of a group. For this first one, I’d like to introduce my teammates! Carry is our Development Director. With years of programming experience under his belt, he’s our primary Unity programmer and the brains behind many of the breakthroughs that have setup the foundations for our game. Carry worked for a Chinese game company… [Continue Reading]