[Game] Trapped With Us - 3D Action/Fighting Game (Currently Prototyping)

[Candescence]

Well, this is a bit of an old chestnut. Normally I'd revive the old thread, but the thread is so old, with barely any content and the project has changed so significantly that, frankly, I think it'd just be better to make a new one and start from scratch.

Trapped With Us is a 3D action-adventure/fighting game in development in UE4, currently in the prototyping stage, inspired by games like Super Smash Bros, Kid Icarus: Uprising, Dark Souls, and others, blending melee and ranged combat designed to be easy to learn but hard to master, as well as unique dialogue and interaction mechanics. The premise revolves around the player working to free several fighters from across the multiverse who are being forced to participate in sadistic 'tournaments' for the sick pleasure of a mysterious being. The game is planned to have at least six playable characters at eventual release, as well as a full single-player campaign and multiplayer.

- "Easy to learn, hard to master" combat mechanics with aspects from the likes of Smash Bros, Kid Icarus: Uprising, Dark Souls, and so on, using directional movement inputs, a focus on both melee and ranged attacks, as well as customizable secondary abilities
- Interaction mechanics inspired by classic point-and-click adventure games, integrated into just one button
- Real-time dialogue and narrative mechanics that don't take control away from the player
- A unique and varied cast
- Stylized anime-esque visuals
- A single-player story mode comprised of both "bot match" gameplay and adventure areas
- Multiplayer with multiple game modes

So this thing used to be a full-on 2D 'roguelite' deal, but the nature and the scope of the project changed significantly to accommodate 1) realities that the project probably would've run into that would've made the whole thing non-viable as an indie project, mainly the scope, and 2) design decisions I felt needed to be changed to better suit what I felt was best for the game overall, and 3) my insanely bad luck with getting and retaining team members who could actually work on the project more than once in a blue moon, if any at all. So, in the the end, the project changed from Unity to Unreal Engine 4, and to a 3D game. And yet, somehow, I've gotten way more done than any previous non-fangame indie project before now:

In the end, aside from various stock/marketplace visual assets, a couple of plugins, the base locomotion system and some minor blueprint code, I've basically had to roll almost everything custom, even the dialogue and interaction system. Nearly all the baseline mechanics are implemented in some form, despite my amateurish programming skills. I'd be getting a lot more done if I had the help of a superior programmer and people who can handle modelling and animation, but I have had incredibly poor luck on that front - people either disappear off the face of the Earth or end up having other commitments that force them to leave.

On the bright side, I actually have some kind of character concept art to show as well:

More recent concept art:

 

Slightly outdated (as in, no longer going to be directly used) concept art:

 

So, now what? I'm just gonna have to keep on trucking by myself and hope for the best, really. Until I can get a stable team going who can at least help me finish the prototype, that's the most I can do. I feel I can only go so far with just myself, but I'll have to eventually find out where I hit that limit.

 

[MegasonicZX]

Best of luck to you dude, this actually looks pretty cool so far. Wish I could help out but I have no idea how unreal works (right now i'm sorta alternating between unity and game maker) and like you i'm not too good at coding yet.