Hello everyone, sorry for the lack of updates…I’ve just been having such a fun time working on my WEAPON Combat League game. I’ve really made a ton of progress. The WCL game is my only project right now, outside of the occasional commission, and it doesn’t fuel a lot of regular online posting.

I figure I should talk about what exactly I’m trying to build.

My plan is to make a straightforward action game/platformer using the extensive WCL story (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005LIMMWK) as a framework. My inspirations are games such as Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse (NES), The Ninja Warriors (SNES), X-Kaliber 2097 (SNES) and Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon I and II (Switch/PS4/etc.). Those games are all action games with either a character switching mechanic, multiple playable characters, or in the case of X-Kaliber, a versus mode with in-game bosses as fighters.

I’m building a fighting system that would work both as a single-player and maybe 2-player co-op campaign. The WCL game will also include a simpler versus battle mode. It’s not meant to compete with an advanced fighting game, but rather just be a fun diversion. After I finished all the character sprites earlier this year, I started using Construct 3 to build my game engine. After fighting off distractions, I have started my deep dive into developing the game.

So far, I have made the two ‘main’ teams, Striker and Hunter, almost fully functional. They have different statistics based on a system I came up with called PARTS. PARTS is just a fancy way of labeling each character’s strength, defense, speed, etc. I used the PARTS system for virtually everything that happens in the game. Most notably for how the characters move, how much damage they deal and how much they can take.

While I’m striving to avoid being a perfectionist with my designs and animations, the characters can run, jump, duck, block and attack in a few ways. The move sets are hardly complex. But between the variety of characters and systems in place, I hope to make a fun little product.

I built each character the way I wanted them to be based on how I describe them in the story. Quinn (Saber); fast attacker with a dash ability and blade combos, but he needs to be close to his opponent. Meanwhile, Faith (Lumina) is his opposite; a lightly armored ranged attacker who can also heal her team. Rounding out the Striker team, Marcus (Bomber) is a lumbering tank who tosses explosives.

So far, everyone I have developed for the WCL game is working precisely the way I want them to. Still, the game itself definitely has a long way to go before it can be considered a competent product. The single player mode has no real content except for some assets I put together so I could test things. I have no sound or music at all yet. I also have to work out my UI. Design better environments. Create some more gauges and improve the ones that are there. Still need to figure out the energy resource management thing… a lot to do. But I’m having fun.

I’m actually especially happy with how I programmed Rain, Keith’s unassuming girlfriend. She’s a terrible fighter on her own, but when damaged, she can assimilate the ability of her opponent. And if she takes more damage beyond that…well, I’ll show that later.

I’m eager to continue working on the WCL game. I have a thorough to-do list that I’m using to keep on track, and I’m not letting anything else distract me from the project.

But I suppose I can end it with a recent illustration, as I tend to do. In fact, because it’s been so long, what the heck, I’ll share two.

When WCL is done, perhaps I’ll use these girls and others in my next game.

Thanks for reading!