About three months ago, while listening to the song “Night Dancer”, I had an idea: what if there was an FPS game that greatly enhanced the character’s running and jumping abilities, while also adding a large variety of different weapons? Would it create a unique gameplay experience?
I discussed this idea with a student who would be a game designer. He reflected on the idea and discussed it in detail with me. However, another friend pointed out that this was APEX.
Later, the good news was that the student agreed to work with me on this game. However, the bad news was that he only agreed casually.
I also shared my idea in a student QQ group and received a response : “Silly dude, this is Titanfall.”.
At the time, I had not played APEX or Titanfall. I watched related game videos on Bilibili and felt that they were somewhat similar to my idea, but it was just a little similar.
Enhancing the character’s running and jumping abilities while adding a large variety of different weapons were the methods used in the design. To create a unique gameplay experience, the central idea needed to be clear: “suppress competitiveness to encourage and accommodate players’ creativity.”
The process of making this game was also my exploration as a creator, so this game could not be a proposition essay. I named the project “Night Dancer” after the song that inspired me.
Until now, there is no production team, and everything is done by me alone.
In my plan, if this game can be completed, it will go through four stages, and the first DEMO will be the milestone of the first stage.
I only have some modeling skills, and I designed and made sketches of 11 weapons for the first batch.
I chose to make an FPS game because Mixamo has a complete set of FPS character motion resources, and UE5 provides Manny and Quinn, which would not leave me in a situation where I have no resources.
However, the lack of artistic resources still deeply affected me. The character motion resources on Mixamo and the free resources on the marketplace were still very limited, resulting in many bizarre animations in the game, such as the lack of dual-wielding weapon motion models, no bullet holes on the surface of objects, and no Aim Offsets.
There are still many more issues……
By the way, if there are any art students who are willing to join, please contact me at baitulime@gmail.com.
However, “Night Dancer” has passed the prototype stage and the first DEMO has been completed.
This DEMO has rules and a win/loss condition, and is already a complete game, but of course, it is still far from my original blueprint.
As for what to do next, I have some ideas.
For example, I should work on my graduation project, or design a blocky character that can be used as a last resort if no artists join.
But as for what to do next, I’ll see when we get there.