Love Tank!

My highlight in this game was level design and gameplay design.

The game was made in Godot 4 with C#. This is because I wanted to get used to Godot 4.

The game was made for a University Games Design module, which I ended up getting an average mark of 90%, a First Class Honours. This explains the game's short length, as I had to video game projects on at the same time, both for University, and did not want to overburden myself unnecessarily.

Idea Overview

I came up with this idea when I had been playing games like Pizza Tower and Mario Odyssey and felt that there simply was not enough platformers where you can enjoy player expression from a strange, unconventional moveset. I also love Monster Hunter and one of my favourite weapons is the GunLance!

So I thought, "what if it was a 3D platformer with a tank?", then though about the 3 buttons I would think the game would need, as every good 3D platformer uses only 3 buttons! So: shoot, jump and reload. Reload and ammo would then be very important, so jump would use ammo as well. I also felt that the player should only have two rounds of ammo in total so that reloading would be a constant problem.

With this type of game you also have to think very carefully about the range of players that would want to play it. Therefore, I gave the game a high skill ceiling but still made it simple. 'Easy to learn, Hard to Master', as they say. However, as I will talk about later, I do not think I was entirely successful in this.

Gameplay Overview

The structure of the game has the player go through levels that are typically shorter than the average platforming level. This is in place of having checkpoints, and these shorter levels combined act like a larger level, where one level introduces a new mechanic, the next another, and the third level will mix them together into something interesting.

The five levels present in the game are as follows:

1. Introduction to player and trees which fall when shot to create bridges
2. Introduction to enemies
3. Combination of enemies and bridges (this is the level I am most proud of, and can be seen in the video demo)
4. Introduction to spike traps
5. A final level combining all of these mechanics for one final hard level.

Each level has hidden collectables for the player to optionally find and, once the player finished the level, they may engage in an optional time trial. These do not actually give any reward, due to the game's short length. However, they are still motivation enough for some players to try playing the game skillfully.

Criticism

I am quite happy with how the game came out, but I would make some big changes if I were to try again. For example, I felt that the moveset was still not very well polished and alienated lower skill players too much. The reload cancels the player's floor momentum, which is probably very confusing to these players. It also immediately changes their direction, which is likely also confusing.

The player could also use a 'high jump' where they would jump higher if they did not hold a direction. Not a single low-skill player seemed to understand this. They would try it the first time in the tutorial and then almost never use it again without being asked. Something would have to be done to fix this problem.

I also generally think that there is a clash between the game wanting nice combat and also rewarding fast gameaply and player expression. Perhaps something should have been done to make combat more involved and work just as well for player expression. I would have to reconsider a lot of how the player controls, basically, which is my main problem with the game.