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[theredmark-dev]

Purpose of a "secondary" weapon

Hi there!

So in a recent update to my game Survivesmith, I added a secondary weapon in addition to the primary weapon which was given to the player by default. The first-ever "primary" weapon I had already given the player was a pistol. You might already be thinking, "That's not a primary weapon, that is the definition of a secondary weapon" and that is exactly what went through my head.

How are secondaries used in other games?

Having a pistol as a primary weapon is not bad or wrong by any means. It can be heavy and powerful. I may have seen many games where the player is rocking a pistol without ever having to think of any guns that go brrrrrrr. Pistols were pushed down more into the "secondary" hole due to multiplayer FPS games. In almost all games where the player has a super powerful gun, they also get a secondary weapon (in most cases, a pistol) to switch to mid-fight. There are several situations where a player may use a secondary weapon (a pistol to be exact).

The primary weapon may run out of ammo, forcing the player to switch.

The primary weapon may be under the reload state (empty magazine).

The primary weapon they hold may be more suited for long-ranged fights rather than short-ranged ones, meaning the pistol may be a better option in a close-range encounter.

These are only some of the situations I can imagine where the player will switch to their secondary weapon with or without being forced to do so.

How should secondaries be used in MY GAME?

In the case of a game like Survivesmith, an auto-shooter/bullet-heaven game, the laws of an FPS game don't apply. The main reason for this is the "auto-shooter" part. The gun is always firing at whatever it can find in whatever range it is given, and it will do it frantically. In an FPS game, there is more precision and meaning in every bullet fired by a player (unless jumped by an enemy of course!). This makes every bullet count, and the player is more conscious of using their ammo reserves.

I tried adding ammo boxes in the ground which spawn frequently enough, and was planning on adding a system where the player can CRAFT ammo packs by collecting resources. This sounded fine at first since my game was focused on being a rogue-lite bullet-heaven game with crafting mechanics. But as I kept on developing, I realized that running out of ammo and having to switch to a lower DPS weapon mid-game took some of the fun out of this game.

I wanted to player to feel the value of the primary weapon so that it becomes a constant struggle to go around the field, collect resources or ammo boxes, and switch back to their primaries to maw down enemies faster. But I soon realized that even I would give up on caring about the primary weapon altogether and just use the secondary weapon with unlimited ammo, while my other special weapons do the work. I saw the value of the primary weapon drop and the chore of having to collect ammo all the time becoming not-so-fun in the long run.

I could've simply introduced a higher ammo count, more frequent ammo boxes, or any way to make the primary weapon get more ammo quicker. But then again, this defeats the whole purpose of using two weapons. The game is not about managing ammo. It's about having fun without worry. So this is the idea that I came up with next.

How are secondaries used in my game now?

I got rid of the annoying ammo collection chore completely. Both weapons now function without any ammo usage. The player only has to worry about their timing with the reloads.

However, the primary and secondary weapons are now more or less having a similar DPS. The primary weapon (an assault rifle) deals less damage but has a high fire rate and a magazine capacity. The secondary weapon (pistol) deals more damage, has a low fire rate, low magazine capacity but reloads much faster. This works! It totally makes sense. There are now 2 weapons that suit different situations. This will work even better on weapons that deal damage in different ways. For example, a secondary weapon that deals area damage but has a low fire rate would complement well with a primary weapon such as an SMG.

So there you have it! This is my take on the use of secondaries in a bullet-heaven game. This was a long post and I kinda cut short towards the end.

Thanks for reading!

Cheers! MaRK

[theredmark-dev]

Splitting biomes, splitting the load

In my game Survivesmith, the original hook was to make a bullet-heaven with crafting elements. It felt pretty good in the beginning but when I kept testing out different ideas into this frame, the game started feeling boring and slow-paced for a bullet-heaven game.

Gameplay before

The initial features were good enough. There were 4 biomes with 4 very vibrant (and scorching on the eyes) colors. They were unlocked one after the other, after defeating each boss enemy. Each biome had a unique enemy which dropped a unique resource and the player had to collect different resources from different biomes to "craft" upgrades to their weapons and modules (stuff like shields, magnets, etc.). This was fine, but then the gameplay loop started becoming stale. I only understood this by playing the game for way too long myself.

Reasons for change

I wanted to make this game have some sort of crafting element built into its core. It was there, but it was starting to become a hassle for the player, an unwanted necessity to play the game.

I had thoughts of adding even more crafting resources to make things more interesting, but that made the game even more annoying to play.

I looked back and thought to myself, "Biomes are different enough, but they are not worth exploring". So I decided that as an additional element, I would incorporate a simple "exploration" aspect into the game. Crafting would still be there and would play a core role in the game, but collecting resources for crafting would be more fun if I didn't ask the player to do it for survival.

Gameplay after

So here's how it goes. You, the player, pick a biome (only 1 available at the start, no randomizing sh*t), drop into it, and are immediately given a reason for WHY.

Mission objective:

A single objective to WHY you're here in the first place. You're here to collect something that is extinct in your time and is essential for the survival of the human race. Collect it, get out. Simple.

Primary objective:

Also a single objective, which leads TO the mission objective. The thing you're looking for (a rare plant) is guarded by a boss enemy. You need to lure him out in order to collect the resource. Defeat enough enemies of the biome to lure him out. That's the primary objective.

Secondary objectives:

Note the 's'. The character you're playing as is here to defeat the boss and extract bla bla that doesn't really concern you does it? Well, this is what DOES. A random secondary objective will appear from the beginning of the run. Complete the simple task to get an "upgrade gem". This gem lets the player upgrade or unlock one of their equipment (weapon or module).

But here's the catch...

Secondary objectives don't need any attention at all. You just have to survive and usually, they present themselves to you rather than you having to find them. They are more involuntary.

Here are some examples:

Collect 10 flowers (They spawn all around you).

Defeat a tough enemy (It will find you, not the other way around).

Find hidden treasure (A scanner would ping faster based on your distance to it. You will eventually come across it if your hearing is good).

Objectives like this will randomly pop up and you, the player get to complete them if you want to upgrade your gear. It's all up to you. Besides, you level up and gain more power just by defeating all the bots coming at you. If you're confident enough, you could beat the level with zero upgrades to your equipment.

So there's that. There's a lot more thought and ideas behind the change of the biome system. But that will be covered in a separate post.

Thanks for the read!

Cheers! MaRK

[theredmark-dev]

Survivesmith: A Roguelite, Bullet-Heaven game with crafting mechanics

The Lore

Survivesmith is a 2D, vampire-survivors-like game with some new mechanics. You, the player, are on a quest to collect a rare resource. This resource is lost in time and the main protagonist is a skilled engineer/scientist who travels back in time to collect an endangered resource. Having barely escaped from an oppressive government, the survivor has to collect different resources in order to craft better gear, find enough of the rare resource, and travel back to his timeline.

The Gameplay

You are playing as the lone survivor whose sole mission is to gather a rare resource. In this top-down 2D shooter, you are constantly getting raided by robot hunters sent by an evil government in the future, from your original timeline. These hunters are stuck in a time loop, making them spawn infinitely after you.

To fight these baddies, you are provided with a primary and a secondary weapon. But that is not all! With your expertise in engineering and scientific study, you are able to craft futuristic weaponry with the bare minimum resources found in the early ages where humans didn't even exist.

Collect resources, travel to different biomes, and survive your way through infinite hordes of robots (and other enemies) while making sure you get enough of the rare resource you came after, before making your way back to the future!

The Background

"Survivesmith" was initially developed with the intention of further improving my skills as a game developer and showcasing them to the public as a means of landing a permanent game development job. The game wasn't supposed to take too long to make but the plans have changed, and I'm hoping to make a living out of making games on my own (with the help of my girlfriend).

Because of the change of scope, this game is now aimed to be released on Steam and will have a longer gameplay time, more polished graphics, animations, sounds, etc. than previously intended. This is unexplored territory for me, and I will need all the help I can get to succeed.

Alpha Release

The game will be released on itch.io by the 15th of June, 2024 as an alpha release and I hope to get all the feedback possible from you to make a better and more enjoyable game.

Cheers! MaRK

[theredmark-dev]

Hello! I make games

My name is Malindu and I make games. I don't want to go into a long intro but I know my inner-writer wouldn't agree. So here's the gist:

Who am I?

I am Malindu Ruwantha Kumaradasa. Since that is a hard name for most of you, I go by the name Mark (MaRK, to be more specific) on the internet. I turn 25 this September (2024). I like games (obviously), music, writing, and dubbing (haven't tried in a professional setting but I definitely would, someday). I still live with my parents while working as a contractor for InforPanacea, UK. I don't always get work and that's where I get my free time to make games. On to the more "game dev" side 👇

What am I?

I'm a graduate of Software Engineering who made games even while doing my unrelated degree. I made a C game on the command prompt, a C# game with visuals, a Js multiplayer game on the browser, and my "Software Engineering" final project using Unity. All this and not finding a permanent job in the software field led me to start working on games. I have currently worked on 2 different game projects: A deck builder similar to Marvel SNAP (project dropped for... reasons) and a tower defense game ("Hyper Towers", a skillset demo, available on itch.io, 5-minute gameplay). Right now, I am working on a game called "Survivesmith", which is a larger game in terms of gameplay and effort. I will write more about this in a different post.

I'll give you one better, Why am I?

I am doing game dev because it had been my passion even before I realized it. At a very young age (probably around 8), I saw some amazing games on TV and on the internet but didn't get to play any of them. I dreamt about those games as a kid and didn't know a lot about how to even play them. I started making games in my head and played them on pen and paper. I made my own art, UI, balancing, stat sheets, and that kinda stuff and played them with the graphics and sound effects turned to the max inside my head.

In school, I made games to be played on our notebooks ("notebooks" here being small A6-sized books where we wrote down our homework for the day). They got really popular among kids in my grade and even in the grade above mine.

All and all, I've always wanted to make games, and I never knew how, until I started learning coding. Now, after 24 years, I'm finally working on something I've always wanted to do instead of what others have told me to. I'd like to invite you to join me on my journey. I might not become a great game developer, but at least I would try to make games that would make me happy, and provide enjoyment to the players at the same time.

Cheers!