The Iron Price

This weekend I focused my time on core gameplay and melee combat. I still haven't decided if I'm going full tab-target auto-attack or if I will introduce a hybrid system with auto-attack and combination attacks using action RPG mechanics.

A dire wolf firewalker

My heart leans tab-target because the games I love and remember the most for their gameplay are strict tab-target games. And they do it well. EverQuest is my favorite game of all time and it features simple yet punishing game mechanics. The game loop is brutal but satisfying. It rewards the grinder and the risk-taker. It gives players with a masochism an outlet. It makes the grind worth it and death had consequence. And not just an inconvenient corpse run, but a steep progress penalty to carry. Community in these games mattered. A cleric that could restore 96% of your experience loss on death was a miracle. It forced the players to play utility classes for their benefit and made sure each class was relevant always.

All good MMOs have solid gameplay and combat mechanics, and that's where my focus was this weekend. Here's a list of the stuff I tackled:

• Created an attack ability class to handle melee combat

• Linked up an array of animation montages to randomly cycle between different weapon swing animations

• Added warp target notify states to attack animations to make enemies always warp to face their target

• Added combat attack target that is accessible in behavior trees and blackboards

• Added gameplay attack tags

• Implemented melee attack gameplay event with an acceptable radius that, if inside, the target will be damaged by melee attacks

• Created a function in the blueprint function library to easily get all living players within a specific radius when melee attacks overlap them

• Added functions to cause melee damage and created a blueprint that will use the global damage class

• Added blueprint for melee attack to handle applying the damage gameplay effect and removing it (as well as some helpful debug shapes)

• Tested new code as a listen client and dedicated server with multiple players

I should have a gameplay video in the next month. I am excited to reach a point in the game's development where the mechanics are starting to satisfy and the work is paying off.

Miles to go.

Cheers,

Vinny