Posted by Strauji on Aug 4th, 2019

Two months ago i started this project, i started to learn Javascript, Phaser3 and how to put in use what i had learned before about making games. 

Two months ago i wasn't even able to grasp what was coming...

Two months ago i was still sane...

And now...

Now...

Void Strike, A ship building multiplayer, where you can fight in the stars

Well, it's a while since i last posted how the project was going, that's because i got so caught in the development of this game, so "addicted" that i didn't had spare time to write about it, but now, well for now* it's over. 

All the mechanics i planned are coded, i even made some base to future ones... The game is somewhat ready, i will not put it public right now just because i want to do a "closed" beta with the peoples that were around me during this "journey". 

But i want to show you, the reader, how the game is looking right now:

The titlescreen:





Well, Capitain, the void is awaiting you...

That's so far one of the most beautiful things i've coded until now.  The titlescreen itself is very simple, what i love the most on this is the background, it's random generated, everytime you load that page, you'll see something new, some nebulae, some asteroids and so.  It get pretty pretty sometimes. 

The Ingame UI:

I tried to keep it as simple as possible. 

This one is a bit tricky, there's some small systems under it:

Player HUD:

I've rewrite how the player informations would be presented to the... player. 

There's a small "card" in the bottom left of your screen showing your nickname, your position, your orientation, your speed, the integrity of your ship and how much energy you ship have left. 

There's also a card that will show when you hover with your mouse over the scene's elements(including the core of your ship), they'll show a more detailed data about you/ your target. 

Btw...

Energy system:

The player now has a "pool" of energy, that recharge over a few seconds, each time that you fire an weapon, you'll spend a bit of your energy, if it reaches 0, you'll not be able to shot for a while. 

Every weapon has it own rate of energy consumption. 

"Actionbar":

While coding the weapons, i've found an annoying problem, multiples weapons firing together.  Initially i've throught about making a kind-like system, which similiar weapons would fire together, each kind with it own keybind, but so far, there's no weapon that is similiar to another.  So i built an actionbar that you press a keybind to cycle thru(clockwise or counterclockwise, your choice) and select which weapon is actived, and when you press your left mouse button, it will fire only the weapon selected(Multiples weapons of the SAME type will fire together, tho). 

Death Messages:

It's a matter of numbers, if your integrity drops to 0, it's over Space hero. 

Well, maybe that's the simplest one...

Right now, when you die, as the "main" gamemode is free for all, you'll be kicked of the server, but that don't means that you can't still playing, so when your ship is destroyed, you'll be presented with a death message, and the option to reload the game to play again (right now i'm having some technicall issues to remove this reload thing, letting you go straight and join again, sorry)

Most of the time it'll have some description about how you have died. 

Well that's it, i said, that's the simplest one. 

Now let's get about how the actual game play is going:

SLICE, DICE AND MINCE!  MEET THE SAW(and a few others weapons):

Haha that's already my favorite weapon...

Why, you ask?  you probably didn't, but i'll answer anyway

Well, this weapon is special...

You don't need to activate it, you just need to hug your enemies, they work in a way that the faster you are, the more damage you'll deal, if you are good at racing games, this weapon is perfect to you. 

And also, my aim sucks so bad that in fps games its either me using a knife to get kills, or i'll end the match with negative score

Hehe, i couldn't help but implement something that i would know for sure how to use =P





The others weapons are also good, but you know, they are another play style. 

Gewehr of Anti-Matter(Snipe):

Equiped with a zoom cam(which you can use at your own will when this weapon is actived), you'll be able to shot your enemies from really far away... It's precision is unmatched, they have a low rate of fire and a high rate of energy consumption, their damage right now is strong enough to one-shot others weapons. 

(If you're good at camping, this weapon is your way to go)





Ps: The others are kinda hard to portrait without a gameplay video(which i'm yet to make) so i'll just tell the most important traits about them:

Gantling(Minigun-ish thing):

This weapon is very good for dog fighting, they have a fast rate of fire, low rate of energy consumption, but an weak damage.  With this weapon, bullet hell is a thing. 





Void Flak(Grenade laucher):

I won't lie, the speed of the projectile of this weapon sucks, but... when it hits the target... my dude...

It explodes in a shockwave that will damage anything nearby(including you, use with caution), the rate of fire and energy consumption is moderate, it's good to hit-'n'-run and for crushing the space pebbles (hahaha) The base damage is also moderate, but it has the potential to be a really strong weapon, as the shockwave can inflict a high amount of damage at once if used correctly. 

Cold Welder(Flame thrower but not):

This weapon is more like a tool, as it don't really deal damage, it'll just repair the piece your aim at, they can heal and even increase the targets integrity to up 10% over the max integrity. 

Personally, i wouldn't recoment to rely on this weapon, as healing yourself is a somewhat hard task. 

Well, i think that for now, these are all the weapons, let's see some others mechanics:

Shockwaves:

So, i've said about Void Flak in the last topic, they have a big but slow projectile that explodes on collision(or when it gets out of the reach range), they works by calling a shockwave on the position of the collision, and the shockwave works by applying a force pushing everything that is inside it out. 

The hard you are get caught by the shockwave, the hard the damage will be(You can get even instadestroyed with a mighty shockwave)

Suckwaves Black Holes

These works by doing the inverse of the shockwave, they'll pull you towards it's core(And maybe, destroying you in the process) one small tip i give you, is that gravitational slingshot is a thing...

Nebulae:

Belive your or not, there's two ships hidden in this image

They are spots that the player may hide and use to ambushe others players(or maybe to take a bio break, idk, it's all up to you)

They are made with generation "procedural" and all the players in the match will see the same nebulae in the same place, so they're what i like to call "safepoints"

Wings:

Perfect bal... you know that joke already...

They work by helping you to balance your ship, they'll remove 16% of your total torque, and also will help you to turn your ship faster. 

You don't need to use pair to make they work, but i advise to do so...

Well, i think i've said almost everything, i'll open a "closed beta" as i've said, and i'll try to keep this blog updated on how the tests are going. 

Thank you for reading, sorry for letting my excitement take over when writing this, and See ya beyond the stars!