CYBER COLLOSEUM
Team Size: 3 | Engine: Unity| Development Time: 3 Months | Responsibilities: Arena Design, Player Movement, UI, Enemies and Traps
OVERVIEW
In this fast-paced arena combat game, players control an agile robot equipped with melee and ranged weapons. To survive waves of enemies, players use abilities like triple jumps, blink dashes, and pulse grenades while navigating dynamic arenas filled with platforms, traps, and deadly opponents.
Game Link: https://fizz2.itch.io/cyber-colosseum
Scroll Down for Screenshots & Process
PLAYTHROUGH VIDEO
SCREENSHOTS
DESIGN PILLARS
Fluid and Responsive
Movement
Strategic Combat Variety
The game emphasizes precise control, with mechanics like triple jumps, blink dashes, and fluid vertical and horizontal movement, allowing players to traverse the arena quickly and effectively.
Survival and Progression
The goal is to survive increasingly difficult enemy waves while collecting power-ups that enhance the player's stats, rewarding skillful play and adaptation.
Dynamic Arena Interaction
The changing arena layouts, platforms, and traps provide challenges, forcing players to adapt their strategy based on the environment and enemy waves.
Players must tactically switch between melee and ranged combat, using a wide arsenal of weapons and abilities like pulse grenades to handle different enemy types and situations.
CONCEPTUALIZING
The concept for this game emerged from the desire to create a fast-paced, skill-based arena combat experience that balances fluid movement with strategic combat. Inspired by action platformers and arena shooters, I wanted to combine high mobility with tactical decision-making.
GAMEPLAY MECHANICS
In Cyber Colosseum, players have access to powerful tools like blink dashes for fast repositioning, pulse grenades to knock back enemies, and a variety of power-ups that enhance speed, damage, or health. Strategic use of these abilities is key to surviving waves of enemies that progressively get harder with each round.
Shoot and Melee
Multiple Jumps
Blink
Pulse Grenade
ENEMY DESIGN AND BALANCE
In Cyber Colosseum, each enemy was designed with a specific purpose in mind to ensure varied combat and encourage players to make tactical decisions. Here's a breakdown of my approach to enemy design and balancing:
Shooter
Fly Copter
Tank
Armoured
One of the design goals was to ensure that players wouldn't stick to a single strategy throughout the game. To achieve this, I balanced enemy types by spawning them in complementary waves. For example, players might face a combination of Tanks and Drones, forcing them to manage the slow, durable enemies alongside the fast, evasive ones. This combination requires players to constantly assess the battlefield and adapt their tactics.
FLY COPTER - FAST ELUSIVE
The Flying Drone is a fast-moving enemy that flies around the player, making it harder to hit with melee attacks and encouraging players to use ranged weapons. Its design pushes players to stay mobile, and it synergizes well with slower enemies like the Tank, creating a need for quick target prioritization.
THE TANK - HIGH HEALTH SLOW MOVEMENT
The Tank enemy was designed to serve as a slow, powerful obstacle. With more health than standard enemies, it takes longer to kill but moves slower, giving players the chance to evade or prepare attacks. Its presence adds tension to the battlefield, especially when combined with faster enemies. The balance lies in its slow speed, preventing it from overwhelming the player while still being a formidable threat that must be prioritized or carefully avoided.
THE ARMOURED - FORCING MELEE COMBAT
I noticed during playtesting that players favored ranged attacks over melee, which reduced the depth of gameplay. To address this, I introduced the Blue Enemy, which can only be damaged by melee attacks. This forces players to switch between their ranged and melee weapons strategically, adding a layer of challenge. This enemy often spawns in groups with ranged enemies, prompting players to constantly change their tactics and positioning in the heat of battle.
LEVEL AND ARENA DESIGN
Each Arean in Cyber Colosseum introduces new platform layouts, traps, and enemy spawn points, ensuring players must adapt their strategies on the fly. The colosseum itself is designed to challenge both player movement and combat skills, offering a mix of stationary and moving platforms alongside deadly traps.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
What went right
Combat Mechanics: The combination of ranged and melee attacks, along with abilities like the triple jump and blink, created fast-paced, engaging gameplay that playtesters enjoyed. It encouraged strategic thinking and frequent weapon switching, as intended.
Enemy Design and Balance: The introduction of varied enemy types that required players to adapt and switch tactics worked as planned.
Arena Layouts: The level designs, including traps and platforms, successfully kept gameplay fresh as players had to constantly adjust to new challenges.
What went wrong
UI Design: Due to time constraints, the user interface wasn’t as polished as we would have liked. While functional, it lacked visual cohesion and could have been more intuitive and aesthetically pleasing.
Art Coherence: We had to source art assets from multiple bundles, which led to inconsistencies in the visual style. The art, while individually high-quality, doesn’t always match up to create a unified visual identity for the game.
