A 2D game with 3D mechanics and a 4D aesthetic [Perihelion Icarus]

[Eshai]

I'm making a top down shooter. 

 

You may have heard of  games liike Enter the Gungeon, Diep.io, and Nuclear Throne. They're all Top Down Shooters, great games with a lot of depth in their own way, rather making the gun diversity of Borderlands, making interesting ways of gaining invincibility frames, giving movement by projectile recoil, and other great moments of interesting game design, They're all great games, but I'd like to pitch a new mechanic that's pretty easy to implement but has a high depth potential if you're good enough to build around it.

 

In Photoshop, Art becomes more 3D because you can add new Layers to the artwork, meaning you can isolate your artwork into separate pieces that are more manageable to edit.

 

So what if you could traverse the individual Layers in a game? 

This would be done by using the scroll key on the mouse. Moving up moves you up a layer, and moving you down moves you down a layer. These layers would be separate but coordinated maps with their own enemy encounters and obstacles, allowing to switch from one to another encounter seamlessly, which is your invincibility frames. This would be very similar to a mechanic in Titanfall 2's Campaign, where you get the ability to "press LB to Time Travel", switching you from 1 scenario to another. (Link to a video to explain why this is awesome here Finding the Fun in FPS Campaigns)

 

Now this is a cool idea on its own, but I was really set on the 4D part, so I looked into 4-dimensional physics to see if there was anything weird that I could at least include some suspension of disbelief in. I found out something interesting about gravity in 4D, particularly that it's exaggerated, where the gravity is more powerful but has less range of effectiveness overall. It'd be like if we had twice the Gravity on Earth but the effect of it would go away around 50 miles up instead of 100. This, I can use.

 

Every object in the game has gravity and are affected by gravity. You have gravity, enemies of all sizes have gravity, some objects have gravity. This a bit inspired by Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime's interpretation of Gravity, so I would give a look to that game since it's really fun with local multiplayer. Smaller objects would be more inclined to follow you while bigger ones would attract you. I have an idea where the game doesn't have a compass, but you're being slightly attracted by bosses in a couple rooms away, so you can kinda tell where some things are if you pay attention. This may be a bit strange, but this mechanic has a pretty cool interaction with Layer Switching.

 

What if you switch the layer your on while moving towards a large enemy while you're being pulled by their gravity?

When I was talking about that some objects would have gravity, I meant that this could also lead to some movement puzzles, where you would navigate a layered maze with different obstacles like gaps in the floor where you fall into the lower layers or objects that would have a lot of gravity and try to tug you to the walls, or maybe something more interesting than that (give me some ideas)

 

 

The player character is a bit simple. there are the typical WASD movement controls, along with a mouse pointing in different directions. Your gun, however, is a bit different. The gun has a lot of kick and can be used as a booster as well as a gun. To cancel out the kick, you have to move in that direction simultaneously. This extra speed allows you to escape the gravity of possibly big enemies while simultaneously shooting them. However, this means you can't do much other than that, so if some other enemies interfere you could get yourself killed. That isn't as likely though since that would be ignoring layer switching. Might have to add some conditions to it so it isn't as broken, or might not. (again give me ideas)

 

 

This is the first game I'll be making without a guide

I'll be using C# as the programming language, Photoshop for art assets, and Unity as the Game Engine, I'm aiming for a Minimum Viable Product where I only include the barest of bones that make up the game. I've tried to make everything necessary up to this point, but that'll all come down to testing. 

 

 

If anyone has any recommendations, questions, or other such things I would love to hear because I'm not exactly experienced, and would love to hear thoughts that aren't from someone who isn't possibly biased towards the project like I probably am, considering people can get blinded by the fact they're making something without giving a second thought that they might be being stupid.

 

[KatnissGod]

Huh, a lot of people making games recently. I personally don't have any advice to give you, since I've never really made a game but I wish you luck on this project

[Eshai]

Literally just me and Kyumi, but it doesn't really take a game designer to have an opinion on a game. Either way thanks.

[Eshai]

I don't always bump my posts, but when I do, I include an overused meme.