Codename: TestingGrounds
A downloadable game for Windows
This is a procedural endless shooter.
Currently in the prototype phase, but will be developed over time. Basic gameplay is in place and you can continue to build a high score until you die. If you need some help getting started, please read the following information to help you understand the system and game play.
SCORING:
- Basic Enemy units - 50 points
- Active Turrets - 75 points
- Active Tanks - 350 points
- Defeating Mission Target - 500 points
- Passing a level unharmed - 100 points
- Passing a level without killing any enemy units - 750 points
WEAPONS:
Currently All weapons have unlimited ammo, but they have varying functions.
- Rifle - Starting weapon, shoots basic, rapid bullets. Can be scoped for slower fire, but dealing 2X the damage.
- Shotgun - Unlocked at 2000 points. Shoots a close up spread dealing high damage. Slower than the rifle.
- Grenade Launcher - Unlocked at 3500 points. Shoots a grenade that will explode on contact with most enemy units, and otherwise will bounce once before exploding. Deals small area damage.
- Tomahawk - Melee weapon, activated using the 'E' key. this is a melee attack that will strike anything in front of you, multiple targets are possible. Deals heavy damage with a much higher chance of critical. You take 50% less damage while engaged in a melee attack.
- Stun Shot - This is an alternate attack that is always available. Press "Q" to fire a stun bolt from your left hand. If this strikes an enemy they will be stunned and unable to move for a few seconds.
PICK-UPS:
- Health - Restores 25 points of health to a maximum of 100 health.
- Speed - increases your base movement speed by 50%
- 5X Damage - Increases damage for all range weapons by 5 times. Increase the blast radius of the grenade launcher from 3 meters to 5 meters while active
- Energy Shield - Makes you invulnerable to all damage for a short time
- Armor - Provides you with an energy sheath which reduces all incoming damage by 50% until the armor durability is reduced to 0. This is indicated by the pink font on the "Health" part of the UI. It will turn white as you lose durability.
ULTIMATE ABILITY:
The current ultimate ability is "Call for Help". When your ability is charged, indicated by the robot hand-shake icon on the right of the screen, you can press 'TAB' to activate it. This ability will call in 2 robots to fight on your side. They will follow you and engage the enemy. They won't generally follow you to the next tile, but you may get lucky.
MOVEMENT:
Standard controls are available for movement, a dash system is implemented using the 'shift' key. You can also jump and dash to cover more ground. This is a game that is meant to be played while moving. You may occasionally get in a spot where it's advantageous to stand still and shoot, but if you want to live, you need to move. Strafing and judicious use of the dash move to keep yourself away from and dodge incoming enemy attacks is key to your survival.
You can go up and down the metal and green towers, just go in front of the ladder and press 'F'
Wall jump works on the following items: Shipping containers, walls, large metal tower on military maps, large rocks, and the waterfall. If you jump and are facing these items, you can press space again to perform a double jump, this will give you additional height and distance. Useful for clearing some obstacles, or getting out of a jam. It may also give you the opportunity to land behind an enemy and surprise them.
COVER:
Crouching using the 'CTRL' key can also be helpful in some situations if things get really crazy. Environmental items do provide some cover. The enemies are pretty good shots, but many items are high enough for you to duck behind. Wood piles and rocks on the forest map, crates and cases on the desert maps. You can sometimes get a bit of an angle around the side depending on where the enemy is and get some shots at them without them being able to hit you.
DIFFICULTY:
A note on difficulty, this is meant to be a tough game. It's a high score attack game, so if the game was too easy, it wouldn't provide a sufficient challenge for the player. If you do need help getting warmed up, check the "Easy Start" button on the main menu to have the enemies scale to your score for the first few maps. They'll have less health which will make them an easier target. The game is also somewhat random. There will be times when you turn a corner and an enemy unit will be standing right there waiting with a loaded shotgun. But some strategies might help:
- Strafe - The enemy units are not overly mobile yet. They'll move towards you and wander around, but once engaged, they won't really strafe themselves. So if you keep moving, you should be able to keep ahead of their shots.
- Corners - Don't run quickly around corners if you can help it. Sweep wide around corners and if you can get a safe spot, take the time to identify where the enemies are.
- Cover - use cover. 3 or 4 enemies closing on you? Get behind something and duck. Peak out and see if you can pick a couple of them off.
- Surprise attack - Suddenly shot at and you don't know from where? Jump dash. This will let you cover some ground, create distance and give you a chance to find out who is targeting you.
- Barrels - On military maps that have barrels, use these to your advantage. If you can get safe, watch where the enemies are and try and wait for a moment when multiple enemies are near a barrel. A scoped rifle shot should set it off and you'll kill everything in range.
- Height - The enemy can go all the same places you can go, but if you can get a height advantage on the waterfall feature, or the sandbag installations on the military maps, you can combine height with cover which gives you an advantage.
BUGS/KNOWN ISSUES
There are many known issues/bugs that are on the list to be addressed:
- AI - AI functions on a basic level. They will explore, shoot the player, they are capable of crossing bridges and ascending one of the towers
- Guns currently don't have an independent collision mesh and can poke though things
- Various sounds are missing, bullet impact, turret rotation sounds and others are intended to be implemented
- The AI will occasionally spawn in an odd place, or get hung up on some terrain features
- There is a rare chance you might encounter a floating gun. This is not the normal stealth units that appear in the game. If you see a normal opacity gun with no attached enemy unit that doesn't move around, you've encountered this. You can't kill it, just move on from it. It's being investigated, but it's extremely rare so trying to debug it is proving challenging.
If you do spot any bugs or issues not listed on here, feel free to leave feedback in the form of comments. This project is under constant development, so issues will be looked at going forward. If you get any kind of a crash, please try to screenshot the entire error message and contact us.
File size will be looked at, but this is mostly connected with the assets used in game. At a future date most assets will be replaced with more functional and optimized ones.
CONTROLS:
WASD - Movement
Mouse - shooting (currently no zoomed in aim)
Left-Ctrl - Crouch
F - activate doors/Ladders on Towers
E - Melee Attack
Q - Stun shot
left Shift + direction - dash move
Escape - in-game pause menu
T- Screenshots with no UI
U - Upgrade Menu
Tab - Ultimate Ability
Music - Andre Jetson, A. A. Aalto, Marco Castelli
SFX - MrCisum , Mattix, LittleRobotSoundFactory, silverapple, namikiri
Icons - Freepik
Status | Prototype |
Platforms | Windows |
Author | DolosGames |
Genre | Shooter |
Made with | Unreal Engine |
Tags | Endless, FPS |
Average session | About a half-hour |
Languages | English |
Inputs | Keyboard, Mouse |
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Development log
- v0.28.1 Balance in all thingsDec 04, 2018
- V0.28 You're going to die, the question is whenNov 30, 2018
- V0.27 It might be hard to seeNov 26, 2018
- V0.26 Things will look a little differentNov 23, 2018
- v0.25 Make yourself betterNov 20, 2018
- v0.24 Mobility and youNov 16, 2018
- V0.23 More improvements and not just the graphicsNov 10, 2018
- V0.22c Further improvementsNov 09, 2018
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