Alien Removal Division A.R.D.
Alien Removal Division is a First Person Shooter set in a 1950s underground US military facility during an Alien Outbreak.
My responsibilities
Weapons & Combat
Over the course of the project I designed and balanced the weapons from the concept stage all the way to the finished product.
Weapon Design Process
Research phase
The research done was a combination of looking up real life guns relevant to the setting (1950s US military desert bunker) and contacting people with an expansive knowledge about firearms to get feedback on the decisions I was making.
For both of the inspiration weapons I wanted to pick a weapon with a recognisable characteristic to base the weapon around. So for the shotgun I went with the Ithaca Model 37 because of its slam fire action. For the AR I went with the M16 for its iconic shape.
Weapon Design Process
Research phase
The research done was a combination of looking up real life guns relevant to the setting (1950s US military desert bunker) and contacting people with an expansive knowledge about firearms to get feedback on the decisions I was making.
For both of the inspiration weapons I wanted to pick a weapon with a recognisable characteristic to base the weapon around. So for the shotgun I went with the Ithaca Model 37 because of its slam fire action. For the AR I went with the M16 for its iconic shape.
Weapon Design Process
Feature Breakdown
We decided to finish one weapon before making more so that we could make sure we had at least one good and finished weapon in the game and to establish a pipeline for future weapons along the way. During concepting the behaviour of the weapons it was decided that the weapons would have a primary and alternative firing action. Once the behaviour of the weapons was decided I made flowcharts to explain how the weapon should work to the programmer.
Weapon Design Process
Balancing phase
To balance the weapons I picked some initial values based on the planned enemy health and did a playtest. Then I started making changes based on the feedback and then did another playtest.
The ultimate goal was that the weapons both had situations where they excel and situations where the other weapon was the better option. I measured this in playtests by noting down when players switched weapons and why (Ex. out of ammo, just died, encountered new challenge). Based on that data I worked together with the level designers to make some encounters lean heavier into one direction to promote the use of a specific weapon in a certain combat arena.
Weapon Design Process
Alt Fire
During the concepting phase we decided all weapons should have an alternative fire functionality. This was meant to add more depth to the combat in the game and to add to the uniqueness of the weapons.
The shotgun alt fire allows the player to do a lot of damage in a short burst by pumping multiple times before firing and then releasing all the pumped shots in quick succession. This was meant to help the player deal with tanky enemy that later turned into the boss.
The AR alt fire lets the player do damage in a radius by firing a sticky grenade at the cost of 10 normal ammo and some reload time. This alt fire was meant to complement the primary fire of the AR. The damage done by a grenade makes the main enemy in the game killable with 1-2 shots from the AR instead of 6-7 shots.