Scarlet Skies
Scarlet Skies
Scarlet Skies is a fast action mech game inspired by the likes of Armored Core. As lead designer and director, I wanted to make sure the game design mechanics and dynamics helped match the aesthetics we were going for. with the main inspiration being Armored Core, the idea was to have fast-feeling gameplay and building destruction as our mechanics that would lead to engaging dynamics.
Videos
Game Design
Weapons
The player has access to three different weapons that each act differently and still fit the look and feel of what we were going for. since we wanted a science fiction setting with heavy inspiration of modern military looks, having a wide range of weapons was important.
Laser Cannon
The laser canon was made to fit in with the feel we were going for. It is considered the main weapon. Aiming is done with an in world targeting reticule based on the HUD of modern military aircraft. It uses an overheat mechanic with a long cool-down to dissuade the player from using it too much and encourage the use of bursts.
Heavy Cannon
The heavy cannon is modeled to look like a battleship gun. Since it only fires in a straight line, it forces the player to carefully line up their shots or waste ammo and cause collateral damage. While it's a heavy hitter I wanted to add some risk to its reward.
Flamethrower
The flamethrower is a melee weapon essentially, I wanted to make sure the player always had a backup weapon in case their other two weapons were unavailable, however its short range forces the player to get really close.
Jet Pack
The player has the ability to boost and fly around for increased speed and maneuverability. all at the cost of fuel, making sure the player doesn't stay out of the action too long. fuel and health can be replenished at recharge stations placed throughout the map.
Building Destruction
Destruction is an important part of the experience; early on, we wanted buildings to be able to be destroyed to add to the experience. when sufficiently damaged, buildings fall apart. each building also has a separate effect if they were shot by the heavy canon or boosted into.
NPCs
Both the enemies and ally AIs fight each other while the player isn't there. The idea was we wanted to have dynamic battles going on, they are scaled in such a way that both sides can take each other out pretty quickly so there's a real sense of progression between the two sides.
Documentation
Process
As the director of the director of the project, Once we got our concept down, I segmented the goals to each team member, I assigned someone to figuring out destruction, another team member to get the faction AI working, and another member doing sound effects and getting the objective system working. I got to work creating the bulk of the other systems such as the combat and weapons. We made sure each of our mechanics worked first in a player zoo environment before adding it to the main level. If we ever ran into a hardship we worked on getting it resolved or put it aside to work on something else until we could come back to it, as we didnt want to waste time not getting something done.