Robot Rumble 2.0 | 3D Robot Game | [ Dev Log]

Robot Rumble 2.0 - a first-person strategy shooter

Command a team of robots to destroy your opponent's base, but make sure to defend your own!

-Each player controls a team of robots.

-Switch between your robots mid-battle to gain the upper hand!

Playable Demo:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/55106174/rrfpsbattlearenatest/index.html

Robot Rumble 2.0 will feature:

-4 new robot types - laser tank, rocket tank, shotgun tank, electric shock tank

-Bug-like creeps

-Amazing professional artwork / UI / level design courtesy of Tam Vu http://www.vutam.weebly.com

Robot Rumble 2.0 (RR2) is a ground-up re-imagining of the successful AirConsole 3D Robot Fighting game "Robot Rumble" for AirConsole: https://www.airconsole.com/#!play=com.nerdislandstudios.robotrumble

Technical Details

-Both the original Robot Rumble and Robot Rumble 2.0 are currently built using the excellent Q3D plugin.

-RR2 will be designed first for local multiplayer on AirConsole, with additional content and levels added later to support a launch on iOS / Android.

-RR2 is intended to be both a fun game and a demonstration of what is possible in 3D using Construct 2 / WebGL.

I have asked myself many times why I am rebuilding Robot Rumble in Construct 2 instead of Unity 3D, and the answer is simply because I want to explore the limits of what can be done using Construct 2.

Current Status

Camera: After about a month of experimentation, we have settled on a 3rd-person over-the-shoulder camera view.

Controls: The over-the-shoulder camera view makes mobile controls simpler. With automatic firing, the player only needs left/right buttons. After a lot of experimentation, we found that playing this way seems the most natural.

Multiplayer: For AirConsole local multiplayer, the over-the-shoulder camera view means that RR2 will be limited to 1-4 players with a "Goldeneye"-style 4-way split screen. By keeping the number of players down, we can amp up the physics and effects. Right now, all robots are using physics-based wheel driving, so that they roll and tumble naturally on top of each other.

Screenshots:

iPhone screenshot showing the results of a successful battle -- the player won using a laser tank. The "ghosts" in the screenshot were all killed:

Characters

The laser tank and creep models and textures were created by Tam Vu for Robot Rumble. They were rendered in Blender with Lambert/Phong shaders. We are planning to use Q3D's "basic" shader in-game (no shadows):

Laser Tank

Level 1 Creep

Here is a short video showing gameplay.

In its current iteration, the game has become a "strategy first person shooter". You can switch between the characters on your team, but they will act according to their autopilot. Right now, the goal is to be the last team standing. It is very difficult, as you are going up against three other teams.

Each team consists of:

A laser tank - long range firepower

A creep - melee only, but fast and can jump on top of obstacles

An electric tank - medium range, but continuously hits and does damage

You are playing the role of the red team.

Keyboard Controls:

<arrow keys> forward/backward/turn left/turn right

<space bar> reload layout

<enter> switch to a different teammate (you might have to press it a few times)

Touchscreen Controls:

<no buttons> drive forward

<left button> drive forward and turn left

<right button> drive forward and turn right

<left button + right button> reverse

<recycle button> switch to a different teammate (you might have to press it a few times)

Here is a playable demo of the game in its current form. Note that the 2P and 4P selection screen at the beginning is just a placeholder. Tapping on either option will start the game.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/55106174/rrfpsbattlearenatest/index.html

Lots of improvements in the past week. I have been playing around with mechanics and AI:

1. You have a team of robots, of which you control only one at a time as an fps.

2. All robots are controlled by AI if they aren’t being controlled directly by you.

3. The goal is to win by destroying all enemy towers.

4. Creeps are very good at destroying towers. They do a lot of damage very quickly. I was thinking it would be cool to have some sort of creep spawning mechanism that got more powerful as time goes on.

MOBILE CONTROL UPDATE:

If you play on mobile, I added three buttons to select the electric tank, the laser tank, or the creep.

KEYBOARD CONTROL UPDATE:

If you play on desktop with a keyboard:

Press the “1” key to select the electric tank.

Press the “2” key to select the laser tank.

Press the “3” key to select the creep.

Amazing work! How you did these 3D effects?

You made it with construct 2?

Amazing work! How you did these 3D effects?

Thank you! ??

This was all done using the Q3D plugins developed by — They are a Construct 2 implementation of the threejs html5 3D library. Physics is done with a modified version of the Oimojs library.

three.js is a full 3D engine, just like Unity3D or Unreal Engine 4, but built to use webGL. It doesn't have all of the newest features, and you won't be able to make a next-gen console game with it, but it is perfect for cartoon-style stuff that doesn't try to be photorealistic.

You made it with construct 2?

Yup! ??

My main goal with this game is to push the limits of Construct 2 and to show that full 3D games are possible.

Plus I get to use event sheets instead of coding directly in a language. It is SO much faster to get everything working in Construct 2 than in a language like C#.

> Amazing work! How you did these 3D effects?

>

Thank you! ??

This was all done using the Q3D plugins developed by — They are a Construct 2 implementation of the threejs html5 3D library. Physics is done with a modified version of the Oimojs library.

three.js is a full 3D engine, just like Unity3D or Unreal Engine 4, but built to use webGL. It doesn't have all of the newest features, and you won't be able to make a next-gen console game with it, but it is perfect for cartoon-style stuff that doesn't try to be photorealistic.

Very good. Nice to know here are awesome developers using Q3D. What about creating tutorials about Q3D in the tutorials section?

>

> > Amazing work! How you did these 3D effects?

> >

>

> Thank you! ??

>

> This was all done using the Q3D plugins developed by — They are a Construct 2 implementation of the threejs html5 3D library. Physics is done with a modified version of the Oimojs library.

>

> three.js is a full 3D engine, just like Unity3D or Unreal Engine 4, but built to use webGL. It doesn't have all of the newest features, and you won't be able to make a next-gen console game with it, but it is perfect for cartoon-style stuff that doesn't try to be photorealistic.

>

Very good. Nice to know here are awesome developers using Q3D. What about creating tutorials about Q3D in the tutorials section?

I have done one walk through tutorial already, and might do more, depending on interest:

https://www.scirra.com/tutorials/9456/building-your-first-3d-game-with-the-q3d-plugin

Is there anything in particular you would like to see?

I have done one walk through tutorial already, and might do more, depending on interest:

https://www.scirra.com/tutorials/9456/building-your-first-3d-game-with-the-q3d-plugin

Is there anything in particular you would like to see?

Sure. My idea is a tutorial teaching how to create borders in 3D models like seen in Ultimate Spider-Man and Pokémon Sun & Moon, bringing a cartoon look-like to 3D games.

>

> I have done one walk through tutorial already, and might do more, depending on interest:

>

> https://www.scirra.com/tutorials/9456/building-your-first-3d-game-with-the-q3d-plugin

>

> Is there anything in particular you would like to see?

>

Sure. My idea is a tutorial teaching how to create borders in 3D models like seen in Ultimate Spider-Man and Pokémon Sun & Moon, bringing a cartoon look-like to 3D games.

Ah, so maybe a tutorial on how to create 3D scenes? Most of the work to do this would be done in something like Maya or Blender, then pulled over into Construct 2 when it is all done. I ended up hiring a 3D artist to do this for Robot Rumble 2.0 -- I am not an artist myself. Maybe a short tutorial on pulling in textured models?

>

> >

> > I have done one walk through tutorial already, and might do more, depending on interest:

> >

> > https://www.scirra.com/tutorials/9456/building-your-first-3d-game-with-the-q3d-plugin

> >

> > Is there anything in particular you would like to see?

> >

>

> Sure. My idea is a tutorial teaching how to create borders in 3D models like seen in Ultimate Spider-Man and Pokémon Sun & Moon, bringing a cartoon look-like to 3D games.

>

Ah, so maybe a tutorial on how to create 3D scenes? Most of the work to do this would be done in something like Maya or Blender, then pulled over into Construct 2 when it is all done. I ended up hiring a 3D artist to do this for Robot Rumble 2.0 -- I am not an artist myself. Maybe a short tutorial on pulling in textured models?

"Maybe a short tutorial on pulling in textured models?" It would also be a nice tutorial people need here. But I'm talking about a system in C2 to cartoonize the 3D models with borders. This can't be done in the modeling program, but in the game. Like Ultimate Spider Man and Pokémon Sun & Moon does.

>

> >

> >

> > Sure. My idea is a tutorial teaching how to create borders in 3D models like seen in Ultimate Spider-Man and Pokémon Sun & Moon, bringing a cartoon look-like to 3D games.

> >

>

> Ah, so maybe a tutorial on how to create 3D scenes? Most of the work to do this would be done in something like Maya or Blender, then pulled over into Construct 2 when it is all done. I ended up hiring a 3D artist to do this for Robot Rumble 2.0 -- I am not an artist myself. Maybe a short tutorial on pulling in textured models?

>

"Maybe a short tutorial on pulling in textured models?" It would also be a nice tutorial people need here. But I'm talking about a system in C2 to cartoonize the 3D models with borders. This can't be done in the modeling program, but in the game. Like Ultimate Spider Man and Pokémon Sun & Moon does.

Ah. I see. I haven't tried it yet, but something where the model has a very slightly larger shell around it with flipped normals and a black color? This could give the cartoon border effect, particularly for a model which is flat shaded with a solid color. The simplest way to do this would be to create it in Blender, then pull it into the game. There might also be some custom shaders that can do this without the shell method, but I haven't played with custom shaders yet, and I'm a little scared to go there. I believe Gigatron is the shader master.

> You made it with construct 2?

>

Yup! ??

My main goal with this game is to push the limits of Construct 2 and to show that full 3D games are possible.

Plus I get to use event sheets instead of coding directly in a language. It is SO much faster to get everything working in Construct 2 than in a language like C#.

Can you teach me how to make 3D with C2?