I was to give one, just one advice to an indie developer, it’d be: Never commit to a date. I’ve made the mistake of committing to a date many times. “Anyone can err, but only the fool persists in his fault”, said Cicero. Facing the facts, I am, apparently, not the smartest man on the […]
This week’s post is inspired by this fantastic tweet: We chose to show what it takes to make the simple act of firing a gun feel good. It’s more modest than the above tweet that shows what is basically a full combat encounter, but we hope it’s still interesting for people who want to know […]
Current focus: Combat Vertical Slice
In game development, the “Vertical Slice” is basically a high quality fragment of the game, a short one but long enough to represent the game. Imagine one level of Candy Crash or one bullet-time fight in Max Payne. It’s a simple idea. The cake is the game, and the slice of the cake is, well, […]
Why does aim assist exist? Why does aim assist exist for mouse and keyboard? The answer to the first question is easy. Aim assist was invented to make it possible to play first person shooters with the controller. Aiming with the controller is hard and nowhere near the precision that the mouse offers (there’s a […]
We’re working on a so-called combat vertical slice, basically an encounter that shows off and proves all basic combat elements. We should be showing some of it to the public in March. Karol is sick and out today, but what is the rest of us up to this Wednesday? Adam started to mesh a new […]
A Word or Two About the Player's Movement Speed
Two phrases that spring to mind when we think of old school shooters are circle-strafing and backpedaling. The first thing helped avoid the incoming projectile-based fire and to keep enemies in the player weapon’s effective range at the same time. The second thing was basically the result of all enemies just mindlessly – or fearlessly, […]
The Basic Philosophy Behind Witchfire's Combat, Part II
Literally half of the team is sick, so no real Witchfire material this week. At least nothing visual, as what I want to talk about does concern the game. Posted under one of our Facebook updates, specifically the one about the way we approach combat in Witchfire, a certain comment caught my eye. To me, […]
In one of the previous posts we have shown what it takes to make a weapon. Now, let’s see what it takes to make a monster. The pitch to the fantastic 3D modeler Paweł Jaruga was as follows: A galley slave Same enemy faction as the “swordsman” Dead, inflated body of a drowned man Big, […]
The Basic Philosophy Behind Witchfire's Combat
What do games like Dead Cells and Dark Souls have in common and how Destiny and Call of Duty are on the opposite side of the spectrum? If you said health, you’re right, but that’s just the beginning. Indeed, the first two games don’t have a regenerating health as the core element of the experience, […]