Punch Mania: Devlog 1 🥊

🛠️ Development Update

What's New:

This is the first build of Punch Mania! I was given a short brief outlining the core mechanics of the game and got to work on a small prototype. You play as Max Smash, a boxer who’s mentally stuck in early 1990’s LA. Max is always moving, the player has to guide him through the level, dodging obstacles and traps, punching everything along the way to earn points.

Features:

• The character controller - It handles movement, slopes, falling and jumping (though not all exactly as they should yet)
• Punching - Max can shoot his fists out and break objects
• Scoring - You earn points for picking up or punching purple blocks
• Knockout - When Max runs into a hazard he is knocked out restarts from the starting position in the level

🎨 Behind the Scenes

The main challenge of the prototype so far has been the character controller. Without a concrete design doc to work off it can be challenging to build a character controller that will be able to navigate everything it will need to. I've tried to build it in a way that I can easily add in sensors and ways of navigating any new terrain or level feature that will be added to the game. The controller isn't completely smooth yet, there are a few edge cases where he gets stuck on the side of a platform instead of falling to the ground and the movement going down a slope is a little stuttery.

I didn't have much time to spend on the punching mechanic. It is currently just converting the mouse/tap position to a world space coordinate and firing the fist in that direction. The fist is parented to the player so If the player turns while punching the fist spins around. I'll be refactoring how punching is handled next week.

🧪 Playtesting & Feedback

If you the game I'd love to hear what you think! Leave a comment with what you like, what you don't, what you would like to see in the game or anything else!

🗺️ Next Steps

• Ironing out the character controller
• Refactoring punching
• Creating a few more hazards
• Proper gameloop with a countdown timer