What the Tank Proposel
Assignment 2 - Game Concept Devlog - KIT109
hbeumer | 690105
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What the Tank?!
Concept Statement:
What the Tank?! is a crazed standoff game in which you and/or a friend go head-to-head in a 2D arcade tank fighter game.
Genre:
Arcade/Action/Strategy
Concept the Creation:
The creation of What the Tank?! will be a game clone of the web browser game Tank Trouble, however taking a bit more time to not only improve it graphically and audibly but adding different “power ups” and interactables such as in the game Stick Fight: The Game. In the game Tank Trouble, there are multiple power ups the player and the enemy can use to change how the game is played to destroy your opponent. For example, there are items like tank seeking rockets, railguns that shoot through walls, cluster bombs, mines and more. Tank Trouble also consist of a maze-like level system in which the players will often have to navigate their way to the opponent to destroy them. The game also shows cases the base projectile bouncing of the wall a few times before breaking, which creates that area of skill in which you might need to bounce a projectile around a corner to destroy your opponent. I will be implementing these concepts of Tank Trouble in order to make What the Tank?!. Alongside that, in Stick Fight: The Game there are different preset levels that the game switches between whenever a round ends, each with their own set of interactions and design. This in turn makes the levels feel fresh and players may gravitate towards playing each level differently. For example, there are levels with moveable objects like boxes, icy levels that make the ground slippery, and levels that can have conveyor belts or waterfalls that can move the player around. A launch video of the game briefly shows what map styles and objects below is included for reference.
These concepts will be implemented into What the Tank?! to create a bit more diversity and give players the opportunity to explore different play styles. Overall, I am to achieve the base gameplay of Tank Trouble with a few more interactables placed with in maps to create various challenges for the players to overcome, or potentially utilise to destroy their opponent such as in Stick Fight: The Game
Audience and competitive Analysis
The aim for What the Tank?! is to be portrayed to a younger audience around the age of 12-35. Seeing as Tank Trouble won’t display any mature content like bloodshed or death, it can be aimed towards a slightly younger audience. The arcade genre tends to sell well within most audiences as it often breaks down into a quick 5-minute playable session when someone is perhaps having some downtime. However, the Skill and Strategy games often deter older audiences as they can find this genre difficult to understand and sometimes frustrating, often leading to them not enjoying the experience overall. Action is one of the leading genres for games aimed for audiences aged 18-35 according to a report made by 24-Players1. Though this scope may seem wide, it seems that Male players often have a lot more fun with Action themed games as compared to Female. This in turn means that What the Tank?! would ultimately be aimed at a Male audience, between the age of 12-35.
Comparing What the Tank?! to some of the games I’ve inspired from, it seems that games like these are good short-term, however they struggle to captivate audiences to continue to play them repetitively over a long period of time. A good example is Stick Fight: The Game. With almost 100,000 reviews on steam, it certainly was a big hit with the community, however after pummelling your friends for about 30mins it seems to become repetitive and static, often leading the consumers to eventually get bored of it and chase a more exciting and fresh experience. One of the major problems with arcade style games is that due to the nature of its style players will struggle to continuously play the game as there isn’t really anything rewarding or new to do. Some games genres like that oppose this “stagnant” moment in games are often online multiplayer games. Where the play style is fresh as you verse new people. Other examples to combat this are daily challenges and/or reward tier systems in which the player might have to complete a certain action in the game to be rewarded with an item or even a cosmetic. This creates a sense of logging on daily to keep a player engaged with the game. In conclusion, the style of this game will often be successful to draw players but falls of in keeping them captivated.
Game Treatment and Concept Art
The Player
In What the Tank?! there will be 1-2 players, both being hosted on the same keyboard. They will each control their own corresponding tank and will navigate a maze to destroy the opponent and score. There will be two modes presented to them at the start of the game, 1 Player and 2 Player. If the player chooses 1 player, they will face off against an AI that will try to destroy the player. Due to time constraints, I will have to see whether the AI will be able to use power-ups which are mentioned in a statement below. If the player chooses 2 player, there will be 2 tanks that are controlled individually. The tank whether AI or player will have the same movement parameters. The movement of the tanks is best explained in the video below.
Tank movement video
As shown the tank will only be able to move in a 1 directional line, however, can rotate whilst moving or standing to adjust where that line goes. The tank will initially start with a single barrel chamber, in which it can shoot up to 5 bullets before having to reload. These bullets will bounce off walls up to 3 times and expire if they do not hit something that isn’t a wall.
The Maps / Mazes
In this game I will attempt to feature at least 5 different preset levels. If I find myself having more time, I may decide to add another 20, featuring different themes. These levels will be randomly chosen at the start of the game and will consist of an elaborate top-down maze in which player must navigate their way to their opponent. Some levels may feature things such as breakable walls or moveable boxes. An example of a concept map is shown below.
Map example 1
Power-Ups and Weaponry
I intend to add at least 5 different power-ups into the game that will spawn throughout the maze as a pickup item for the player. Each power-up has its own distinct function which changes the dynamic of the game. There are two types of power-ups being offensive and defensive. Offensive ones will alter how the player will shoot whereas defensive ones will change how the player receives damage.
There will be 2 types of projectiles. The first is the default bullet, which will shoot in the direction the player is looking and bounce 3 times before breaking unless colliding with a tank or persisting for too long. The second projectile is shrapnel, which will often form in clusters as shown in the powerups below. The shrapnel projectile will act the same as the default bullet however it will not bounce of walls and instead immediately destroy itself on collision with anything.
Shield:
The shield power up is the only power-up that can act as a defensive play for the player that picks it up. When you pick up a shield spawn your tank will be surrounded by a force field which will only deactivate once it has collided with a bullet or shrapnel, essentially giving you an extra hit. Below is and example video of how it would look. However, in this case I do not want the bullet to bounce of but instead break the shield.
Shield Demonstration video
Grenade:
The grenade power up is one of the many offensive power-ups. The grenade works when a player picks one up, it changes for the default single barrel gun to a grenade launcher. When the player shoots the grenade, the tank will revert to the default state and launch a grenade in the direction the player is facing. When the grenade projectile collides with a wall, it will burst into a multitude of shrapnel projectiles. Below is a video example. This video however displays the grenade going off after a certain time, I instead want it to go off when it collides with an object.
Grenade Demonstration Video
Laser:
The laser power-up will be a ray casted line that will act like the default bullet, except it will create one line of destruction. Picking up a laser pickup will change the tank state to a laser cannon, when this happens there will be a guiding laser that will show where the laser will reflect before shooting, and once shot will follow that line. Below is a video that reflects how I want it to look and act.
Laser Demonstration Video
Railgun:
The railgun is a powerful double-edged sword. Picking up the railgun pickup will slow the tank down and change it to the railgun state, as it is lugging a humongous weapon. When the player shoots, the railgun will have a short charge up before shooting a giant ray in the direction the player is looking. This ray will go over walls and will travel in a straight line. After shooting the player is then stuck momentarily as a drawback to using such a giant weapon, before returning to the default state. The video below demonstrates how the railgun might look like. However, it doesn’t travel in a straight line like I would like.
Railgun Demonstration Video
Mines:
Mines are a unique power-up as it is the only placeable weapon in the game. When a player picks up a mine, they will change into the mine state. In this mine state, when the player shoots it will place a mine that will wait a few seconds before arming itself and turning invisible. If any tank moves over the area the mine once occupied the mine will appear briefly before exploding into a ball of shrapnel. The mine won’t activate when a projectile crosses it. A video below demonstrates how I anticipate how the mine will look like.
Mines Demonstration Video
Sources
24 Players 1 (viewed 12/09/2024)
Stick Fight: The Game (viewed 13/09/2024)
https://landfall.se/stickfightthegame
(The original tank trouble has since been deleted and/or turned into a virus, so I’ve linked a few ones I used to make the gameplay videos)
(all sources viewed 13/09/2024)
https://www.construct.net/en/free-online-games/tank-trouble-82/play
https://poki.com/en/g/tank-trouble
Some of the content was a game made by me:
Tank Trouble, Harry Beumer
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