October Progress Report - The New Violent Sirens (FREE) (Patreon)

Okay, this is gonna be a little heavy.

In September, my game had reached a point where I felt nothing but stress working on it. Multiple systems were bugging out between each other, simple code that should work didn't. Everything just felt like it was falling apart and I more so loathed going to work on it than enjoying it as a hobby.

Eventually, I just said "f*ck it", and started over.

I took my maps, models and animation assets and organized them and created a brand new  Unreal project in 4.27 at the start of October, which is why I never made a September Progress Report. All of the progress I had made in September became meaningless.

So why the new Violent Sirens?

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Violent Sirens is now an RPG x Wrestling Hybrid.

When I first envisioned my own wrestling game over a year ago, I imagined it having leveling mechanics for the characters, unlockable skills and the game would be considered an "arena brawler" over a "wrestling game."

Personally, I feel that wrestling games (due to no competition) have been stuck in this perpetual "format" that says how a wrestling game should be made. I thought I wasn't good enough for my original vision, so I adapted the "proper way". This was because Yukes' early games were so innovative, they became the influence for almost every wrestling game after. Similar to how after Arkham Asylum, almost every superhero game -- even Marvel's Spider-Man -- is heavily influenced by that singular game and it's way of shaping how superheroes should be played.

I decided to take that light-RPG combat style approach to Violent Sirens, the combat will be similar to that of Arkham, Assassin's Creed, Spider-Man and Avengers. For example, in Assassin's Creed Syndicate, I always imagined the Fight Club with Evie and Jacob being 1on1 or 2on2 tag matches. How cool would that be?! That's the thought process that powered the new Violent Sirens.

So where is the progress now?

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The absolute first thing I did was add the essentials for combat -- Striking / Health / Blocking / Running.

Striking: There is generally no difference from the old version. The player (or AI) has a large hitbox that shows where the strike is allowed to hit. Once the strike animation happens, an Animation Notify State triggers telling the box when it is allowed to appear. During this window, any player that is inside that box is a victim of the strike damage.

Running: In the old version, as you saw in my previous progress report -- running was just a screwed up system. For this version, I thought a "toggle run" didn't belong in this style of game, so I gave the player free reign to run as they feel. The player can run in any axis, as well as block while running. Running is done by simply holding down a button and moving (currently Left Shift)

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Blocking: When I started, I just wanted to implement a simple block feature that will reduce damage. When blocking, all incoming strike damage is reduced. Blocking can be done while running or walking, and simply raises your arms during any animation you're doing as it's a State Machine with Layer Blend Per Bone.

Over the next few weeks, I implemented Combo Strikes, Ground Strikes, Running Strikes, and Running Ground Strikes. I also implemented an RPG-style targeting system, courtesy of LockOnComponent for Unreal Engine 4.

Combo Strikes: At the moment this system is a little bugged as it always doesn't go back to the first strike, but I'll re-write it to fix it. Anyway, the combo striking works with enumerators to determine which strike to hit your opponent with. In basic terms, you have up to 3 combo strikes (more may be unlocked). The third strike will always knock down the opponent, ending the combo (although this may change).

Ground Strikes: Pretty simple, works the same as the strike system but does a check whether our current target (or, if no target, last hit actor) is in a "downed state". Then it proceeds to do the Ground Strike animation instead.

Running Strikes: Almost the same as Ground Strikes. We do a "Running?" check and instead execute a running strike. This system will be expanded to add different strike options in the future. Currently, you only have one running strike that always knocks down the opponent.

Running Ground Strikes: A combination of both the Running and Ground strike systems. Nothing special worth writing about it honestly.

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The Lock On System

The targeting lock system I adapted is quite different. It's similar to that of Marvel's Avengers, or Dark Souls and such like that.

When not locked on, the player has entirely free reign to rotate the camera as they please (using the mouse or right stick). Once the player decides to trigger the lock on to an opponent, the camera will force itself to rotate around that player so we can always keep our focus on them. I feel like this will make future systems easier, such as throwing weapons.

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Parry/Reversal System: After all the necessary code was done to implement these systems together seamlessly, I moved on to making a quick reversal/parry system. This is just a base prototype to get the ball rolling, but it's general function works. The idea is, like how in Marvel's Avengers/Spider-Man/Arkham, you get a warning indicator above the opponent's model indicating it is time for a reversal, if you press the Block button during this window, a parry animation will happen and you'll receive push the attack away as well as resetting the opponent's combo. The window is determined by an Animation State Notify, similar to the Punch.

One issue I did encounter was that the player could reverse during the strike attempt even if they weren't in the vicinity of the strike box, so I had to duplicate it and call it a Reversal Box, and if the player is within the Reversal Box of the opponent, only then may they parry the attack. I've also coded a Ground Strike Parry, so you can reverse ground strikes as well.

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That's all I was able to fit in October.

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Whats Next? What's Your Vision?

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You'll have your default Exhibition, CAW Mode, etc as a normal wrestling game would.

I'm simply adapting mechanics and combat from an action-RPG game and merging them with the wrestling genre mechanics. If Mark Out can do it with Card Games, that gives me a whole large more inspiration.

I hope this reboot doesn't estrange as many fans as I had before. I understand people were looking forward to a HCTP/SYM successor, but I feel like this is much more suited to my style of gaming and I feel like making something "new" motivates me even more to make it the best possible product I can as an indie solo developer.