Pt. 1: Game Design: Rules, loops, and mechanics oh my!!
Welcome to Sarsparilla Springs!
Howdy y’all, and welcome to the first of a three-part dev blog going into the detail of how we made Showdown, our most rootin’ tootin’ wildest PVP RRO experience yet!!
In Showdown you play as the Lawful Deputies or the Nefarious Outlaws in a 4-minute PVP battle for the town of Sarsaparilla Springs! At your disposal are three new cork weapons created with new UGC circuits. In fact, the entire Showdown game was made with new UGC tools! Some have shipped alongside Showdown for you to use today along with other new tools we hope to put into the hands of our creators in the near future.
Let’s start from the beginning, why did we make Showdown? A few reasons!
We wanted to create another Rec Room Original game that’s fun to play, brings friends together, and expands on the world of Rec Room.
We wanted to create something that built on the success of our previous Rec Room Originals like paintball, but that was a little faster and streamlined.
And importantly, we wanted to do as much of this as we could with the makerpen and circuits, and where we couldn’t, develop new systems for our creators.
Showdown Design:
As with any game we’ve created it always starts with the Game Design Document (GDD). This is the blueprint from which the team uses to figure out how and what needs to be created to make Showdown work. It gives a detailed explanation of the many different aspects that go into creating a successful game.
Some Example Components:
The Basic Rules - What you can and can’t do while playing the game
The Game Loop - What is the basic action the player takes over and over that consists of the core mechanics of the game
The Core Mechanics - These are the actual core actions that allow you to achieve the game loop
Game Systems - The components of the game that will make it work that need to be made. These can be health systems, score systems, (and the most important - the root beer system!)
Level Design - What does the map/level look like that you are playing from a basic design point of view
Art - What art is needed for the game? This can first be concepts but eventually 3d models, animations, root beer bottles, and even Maker Pen art in the case of Rec Room.
Sound - What are the sounds and music you hear while playing your game? Are you hearing goats BAAAA at each other, does the cave echo when you’re walking through it?
Let’s break each one down further!
The Basic Game Rules:
Can’t make a game without first having some rules to follow! All games have rules that establish the limitations of what a player may or may not do while playing that game. It creates the foundation for which the game loop and mechanics can be added to create a smooth gaming experience. This is true for all games whether it’s a board game, sports game, or video game. For Showdown we had to create rules specific to PVP type games. Our rules are:
6 Player Deathmatch - 2 teams of 3 battling it out until the time runs out or the min. score is hit.
Gameplay time - 4 minutes of wild west action
Win Condition - first team to 25 points (or the most points after 4 minutes)
The other thing we really kept in mind was to stick to the rules of paintball. Showdown started as a reskin of paintball at first and then we continued to iterate from there creating the new weapons and systems that were unique to Showdown.
The Game Loop:
As mentioned earlier the Core Game Loop is the main action the player takes over and over and over in a game. It’s the game play in its simplest, purest form. Run, Jump, Score is the basic game play loop of Super Mario brothers and other platformers.
In the case of Showdown we used the basic PVP game loop:
Players fight, pick up new weapons, get KO’d and respawn.
This loops over and over and is controlled by our above game rules creating a much more solid game experience. The last piece is the Core Mechanics.
The Core Mechanics:
These are the actions carried out to achieve the game loop. They can be running, jumping, firing weapons of different types, which is the case for Showdown!
We have 3 NEW cork weapons we are introducing: The Spinner, Blaster, and Repeater. We used the old paintball weapons as a starting point, but you can see they look juuuuuuuuust a little bit different now. You’ll also notice that the new cork guns have a bit more POP to them in the way they shoot and reload.
Maybe in the future we will have a sniper like in the above image! We wanted the cork weapons to be new in the feel and way they work yet still be connected to the paintball weapons of the past. A new mechanic with these weapons is that they auto-reload. The revolver has six shots, the shotgun 2, and the lever rifle 3 - 3 round bursts. After that they all reload for a short amount of time with stylized reload animations that really make the guns unique. This auto-reload system was added to make the game play fast, fun, and mobile friendly. It also adds an element of strategy when firing to keep track of your ammo, just like you had to in the old west.
A key component of adding the new weapons was balancing them just right. For this we looked to an old kids game - Rock Paper Scissors. In Rock Paper Scissors you play with your hands making different hand gestures that represent either Rock, Paper, or Scissors. Each one loses to one and wins over the other.
Rock beats Scissors
Scissors beats Paper
Paper beats Rock
Using this idea we balanced our weapons the same way! In a cork battle between different weapons we balanced them to beat out their counterparts (most of the time).
Spinner beats Blaster
Blaster beats Repeater
Repeater beats Spinner
Keeping this in mind allowed us to create weapons that are balanced for closeup, mid, and long range gameplay so all players can use the weapons and gameplay style they are most comfortable playing. Whether you’re a gunslinging cowpoke who loves speed or a sharpshooter with a steady hand you’ll feel right at home in Showdown!
So folks, with these three components of the Game Design doc you now have the foundation of your game! From here we can start to build upon it with Level Design and the other game systems which we will talk about in the next blog post and how they start to create the “Fun Factor” for our game!
One last thing for y’all RR+ Early Access members - how many bandits can you cork? Rack up your KO’s before August 18th and we’ll showcase the sharpest shootin’ deputies n' bandits at the top of the Early Access leaderboard on our social media before it resets!
Until then see you in Sarsaparilla Springs, Partner!