FPS Prototype is a mechanic design project where I created a player controller for a first-person shooter. I was inspired by unique movement from games like Titanfall 2 and Deep Rock Galactic and wanted to learn how I could implement such mechanics in my own games.
I focused on rapid prototyping and wanted to get as many iterations as possible so I could experiment with different versions of my main mechanics. I conducted playtests and gathered feedback from peers and friends to improve the mechanics.
I started with a first-person controller and then focused on two movement mechanics. A grappling hook that moves the player towards the grapple point, and a shotgun jump which blasts the player backwards from where they are looking.
Iteration v0.1.0
This was the first iteration of the prototype with both shotgun jump and grappling hook mechanics implemented.
There were some issues with the grappling hook where the player could be launched out of the map and occasionally get stuck to walls unintentionally.
I also had issues with air movement whilst using the shotgun jump, which was disabled for later improvements.
Iteration v0.2.0
A new test level was created to better test the movement mechanics.
I also added two new weapons to give players options when attacking enemies (To be added later)
In this version, the shotgun jump was quite strong and allowed players to "fly" if used correctly.
Iteration v0.3.0
I created a new gameplay demo level which would show off the movement and FPS mechanics in a more interesting way. This includes enemies to defeat with a kill counter to track these.
The grapple was also improved to allow players to "stick" to walls and look around. This gives players more time to pick their next move after grappling to a wall.
I also adjusted shotgun power and grapple range to tone down movement relative to the new demo level.
Iteration v0.4.0
Various quality of life improvements were added including a jump buffer to make it easier to jump off ledges and fixing some player movement issues where they would bounce around.
Players can also only reload the shotgun while grounded, making it more skill based when moving around the level and stopping players "flying" through the level.
After testing, players were not a fan of this shotgun change and it was reworked for the final version.