Pitch

You play as Argnark, a kid with a monstrously mutated body and a very short temper, who leaves colourful doodles wherever they go. Argnark grabs, shakes and throws around everything that moves. It’s just a shame their little playmates break so easily!

Context

This project was created as part of the module Studio Game 1 at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts.

The objective of this module was to develop a prototype through three stages and present the final product to a publisher. The prototype was aimed to achieve the status of a "vertical slice," which meant that all mechanics needed to be implemented and functional at their most fundamental level.

Challenge

Although the modules goal was to simply "create a game" this is not where we intented to stay. For Nuclear Playtime our goal was to create a first person hack and slash which subverts expectations of the genre and places the player in a invincible Character "Argnark".

Consequentially the player and the enemies do not have health. The enemies can simply be one-shot which is to empower the player in their power-trip through the bunker. To motivate the player to move forwards and into the deeper parts of the bunker we implemented the excitement mechanic.

This mechanic empowers the players stats (speed, jump-height, physical strength) and it communicates at the same time the current power level. Depending on their state of excitement.

Argnark can find themselves in one of three power-levels:

1: Feeble and Bored

With the world fading to gray Argnark turns to his weakest state where is least excited, he perceives reality at its least interesting and all vibrancy is removed from the world.

2: Clash of realities

With the start of some excitement, Argnarks playful mind-realm begins clashin with reality resulting in vibrant colours popping up and enemies starting to enjoy the playtime.

3: Excited Superpower

With excitement at full Argnark feels like they can topple the world, the world turns into their vibrant Playground and Enemies are (as far as hes concerned) enjoying their playtime with him. With jumps as high as buildings and colours as strong as his muscles, fun is guaranteed at this level.

Team

Control Scheme

Keyboard & Mouse
Left Mouse Button: Hit
Right Mouse Button: Grab

Space: Jump
SHIFT + Right Mouse Button: Dash (grabs first object in reach during dash)

While grabing
Left Mouse Button: Hit
Right Mouse Button: Throw

Thank you to Gwydi for the page design template, check out their game!