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Upturn

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Fight in a low poly arena with up to 7 other players competing against you, where the only goal is to outgun your opponents. Losing in a match? No worries! The more you are defeated, the stronger you become upon respawning. Utilize this mechanic as well as your skills and strategies to beat your opponents using a variety of weapons and abilities at your disposal.

Upturn is a fast-paced, action-packed, multiplayer first-person shooter that involves players competing against one another in a free-for-all setting.

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Development

The development process of Upturn was a great learning experience for me, as it was the first project where I had to carefully plan out my schedule in order to successfully complete it. Upturn initially began as an experimental project designed for me to learn more about 3D game development and thus was not intended to be released to the public. My main goal for this project was to try to attempt to create a rough replica of the game Karlson, developed by DaniDev, using the video devlogs he released on his Youtube channel.

With inspiration in my mind, I eagerly opened up Unity and began working on this project and was finding great enjoyment in doing so. I soon found myself with a player controller that was able to run on walls and use three different weapons in a simple playtesting scene. Doing this, although a relatively simple task now, was a very rewarding experience and gave me a lot of insight and knowledge into what goes into making a game. It was around this point in time that my desire to create a multiplayer game began to take shape and with limited knowledge of how to even get started with multiplayer game development, I took a great Udemy course, taught by James Doyle, that explained the core components of creating an online FPS game using Photon Unity Networking.

Despite my initial drive in the project, I soon found myself having difficulty understanding the concept of RPC functions, and with me being new to game development, I quickly shifted focus onto exploring some new game ideas, specifically in VR development, which led to me to halt my work on this project. However, I never truly felt the satisfaction of completing what I started, so I revisited Upturn with a renewed focus to finish my multiplayer FPS game. However, upon returning to the project, I soon realized that I actually wanted to release the game as I felt that it largely showcases my growth and learning as a developer. However, I also recognized that the current state of the game was a very rough replica of Dani's Karlson and therefore lacked originality and needed to be completely reworked in order to gain its own identity.

At this point, I brainstormed a vague idea for a multiplayer FPS game where players would use special abilities and weapons to battle each other. While I wasn't exactly sure what these abilities and weapons would be, I really liked the idea of giving the losing player in a match an advantage with the intent to potentially turn the game in their favor. I took this idea and began refactoring my work without a set plan, which led to me encountering more unforeseen challenges, such as feature creep. I knew that I needed to overcome these problems if I ever wanted to finish this project in this century and thus created a schedule that prioritized what needed to be done first in order to create a functioning prototype. Although unfortunate at first, as this process required me to revisi and rework previous progress, it put me on a productive path that let to the current state of the game, which I consider to be a working prototype of my initial vision.

Currently, I am actively working on updating and improving this game and by releasing this current build, I am hoping to gain some feedback and ideas from others. Upturn is definitely not complete in my eyes and I am committed to putting in the effort to finish the game and produce an enjoyable experience for players.

Inspiration

Game Name

Their Simplified Core Game Loops

Game Page Links

Rounds

Battle players -> Killed Player picks a random upgrade -> Battle again -> first player to five wins

Rounds ->

Karlson

Spawn into level -> Battle foes and avoid obstacles -> Reach the end in as little time as possible

Karlson ->

Totally Accurate Battle Grounds

Spawn into a match -> Survive against other players through strategic means -> last player alive wins

TABS Battlegrounds ->

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Core Game Loop

In the words of Thomas Brush, a strong game loop should be familiar, unique, and memorable for the player in order to create an enjoyable gameplay experience. I believe that Upturn's core game loop and mechanics possess each of these elements.

Unique

Memorable

Familiar

Upturn is familiar in that it is centered around the classic first-person shooter experience. The game loop is focused on intense, action-packed player-versus-player combat challenges.

Upturn is unique in that players are encouraged to lose in order to gain an advantage over their opponents. When a player is killed, they will respawn with a strategic advantage over their opponents which can help them defeat other players and emerge victorious.

Upturn is memorable in the matches are intense and closely contested as players have the chance to the turn the tide of battle even when they are behind. The variety of weapons and abilities also adds to the excitement of the game.

Taking into consideration the importance of a strong core game loop, I designed Upturn's core game loop as follows:

Step 1

Step 2

➜

Step 3

Step 4

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A player join a game room and enters the "lobby". This is a place where players can interact with one another and the host can customize the next match's gamemode.

When all players are readied up in the "lobby", the match will begin and the players will spawn into the battlefeild.

Players can now battle one another. This happens until a gamemode's end state is eventually reached.

Once the end state is reached, players return back to the "lobby" where they have the choice to continue playing.

Primary Mechanics:

Upturn is a game that centers around the idea of players being able to purchase weapons and abilities during matches using a coin-based currency system. In this game, every time a player is defeated by another player, they are given the opportunity to use their accumulated coins to purchase new weapons and abilities. These purchases will be granted to the player upon their next respawn. The coin currency can be obtained either by defeating other players or being defeated oneself. The amount of coins earned by the player is determined by the weapon they were using at the time of the event. This system allows for a dynamic and customizable gameplay experience for players.

Weapons:

In Upturn, players have the option to purchase a total of six unique weapons during a match. These weapons differ in their statistical attributes, and are classified into two tiers based on these statistics. This allows players to select the weapon that best suits their strategic needs with the coins that they have accumulated at the time during a match.

View Weapon Statistics

Tier 1: Projectile-based Combat System

Tier 1:

Wooden Spear

The spear is a versatile weapon that is both long-ranged and close-ranged. It is free to use and deals 5 points of damage to other players upon impact. Its wooden shaft and sharp stone tip allow it to be used as both a thrown projectile and a close-range thrusting weapon.

Bent Bow and Arrow

The bow is a long-ranged weapon that costs 7 coins and deals 5 points of damage to other players upon impact. It is equipped with an infinite supply of arrows and can be fired from a great distance allowing its user the ability to keep a safe distance from combat.

Short Sword

The sword is a close-combat weapon that costs 7 coins and deals 10 points of damage to other players upon impact. Getting a kill with this weapon may drastically turn the tide of a match in terms of coins that are earned. However, with the weapon's incredibly short range, this can be difficult to achieve in practice.

Tier 2: Hitscan Combat System

Basic Pistol

The pistol is a powerful handgun that costs 7 coins and deals 2 points of damage to other players upon impact. With a magazine of 5 bullets and a quick firing rate, the pistol is an ideal choice for close-ranged combat. While optimal for short-range, this versatile weapon can also be used in long-ranged skirmishes.

Automatic Rifle

A powerful automatic rifle that costs 7 coins and deals 1 point of damage to other players upon impact. Having a large magazine size of 15 bullets, this weapon can easily be used to out-spray your opponents but will require more shots to take them down.

Sturdy Sniper

The sniper rifle is a powerful weapon that rewards players with excellent aim. It costs 7 coins and is capable of taking out players in a single shot. However, with a magazine size of 4 bullets and a slow reload, missing a shot could leave you vulnerable to other players who will show you no mercy.

Abilities:

In Upturn, players have the option to purchase eight unique abilities during a match. These abilities can be categorized into two groups: throwable abilities and utility abilities. The addition of abilities enables the player to experience a more unique player verse player combat system.