Search Unity

  1. Megacity Metro Demo now available. Download now.
    Dismiss Notice
  2. Unity support for visionOS is now available. Learn more in our blog post.
    Dismiss Notice

Beat em ups

Discussion in 'Game Design' started by andrew3a3, Sep 18, 2015.

  1. andrew3a3

    andrew3a3

    Joined:
    Aug 29, 2015
    Posts:
    9
    Hi, I'm working on my first game which was originally supposed to a very simple beat em up for my friends webpage but he doesn't really wanna play ball at this point so I'm gonna have to see this project through on my own accord. I've already made my minimum viable product this week and now I'm thinking about just making it into a free casual beat em up for the app store.I kind of want to put a twist on the beat em up though and switch up the concept of a beat em up from it being a hero beating that crap out of endless less powerful enemies to a less powerful hero not trying to get the crap beat out of him by more powerful enemies, it'll still be simple but with a design focus on strategy rather than mindless violence. But to do this I have to first keep in mind the core "fun factor" for these types of game. I figure it's always good to find meaning in not only my thoughts but other people's thought as well since art is a 2 way street of artist and audience, so what aspects of beat em up's do you guys love the most?

    Thanks in advance
     
  2. ostrich160

    ostrich160

    Joined:
    Feb 28, 2012
    Posts:
    679
    I think a beat em up needs to make you feel strong, which doesnt necessarily go against your game. Funnily enough I very recently saw Rocky 4, and I think thats a great example of the way it should be handled. The russian is much bigger and stronger, but its all about endurance and putting up a good fight.

    Hope this helps
     
  3. LMan

    LMan

    Joined:
    Jun 1, 2013
    Posts:
    493
    An anti- beat em up might have you leveraging mobility to get opponents to hit each other... that could be interesting.
     
  4. Gigiwoo

    Gigiwoo

    Joined:
    Mar 16, 2011
    Posts:
    2,981
    What's the core mechanic of your beat'em'up? There's lots of sub-genres including punch-and-dodge, 1-v-1 battles, and a wide variety of stealth. Even bullet-hell could apply. My advice is to focus on your core mechanic. Keep iterating until it's REALLY awesome.

    Gigi
     
    theANMATOR2b likes this.
  5. imaginaryhuman

    imaginaryhuman

    Joined:
    Mar 21, 2010
    Posts:
    5,834
    I always feel like making a beatemup is kind of difficult because the control system and collision detection is quite complicated usually... but if you can pull it off, these can be a lot of fun.
     
  6. ostrich160

    ostrich160

    Joined:
    Feb 28, 2012
    Posts:
    679
    A clever way to get around collisions systems is just to make enemies attack you if you get close enough that you would usually pass through them, they knock you back, you never get the chance to go through them.
     
  7. tedthebug

    tedthebug

    Joined:
    May 6, 2015
    Posts:
    2,570
    Beat 'em ups is all about timing combos or just mashing buttons so it caters to the one play style. The anti beat 'em up needs to find an interesting way to beat the enemy in other ways which is usually where stealth mechanics come into play. For mobile or quick website play you could go for dodge mechanics with combos for timing & disabling/slowing down enemies
     
  8. andrew3a3

    andrew3a3

    Joined:
    Aug 29, 2015
    Posts:
    9
    Yeah was thinking abut using trigger colliders...and maybe even adding different trigger colliders on different places(like the head) of the enemies
     
    Last edited: Sep 19, 2015
  9. andrew3a3

    andrew3a3

    Joined:
    Aug 29, 2015
    Posts:
    9
    I always liked the aspect of battletoads where the enemies had guns and the player didn't so they where kind of at a disadvantage but you could always fight youre way through it if you went about it the right way....I feel like i'm going to focus my mechanics on timing and strategy so the strategic part of it would be to not be in the range of fire but still get close to the enemy and the timing part is blocking,maybee the enemy has unlimited block strength but the player can only block for a few hits before his guard is down or his blocks arent as effect, I'd probably have to create a private block bar for the player the goes down after every melee hit bullets dont count cause you cant block bullets
     
    Aiursrage2k likes this.
  10. Aiursrage2k

    Aiursrage2k

    Joined:
    Nov 1, 2009
    Posts:
    4,835
    Battle toads, TIT (Turtles in time), x-men arcade, F***ing simpsons arcade, battle axe. Oh man your speaking my jam.
     
  11. jaybdemented

    jaybdemented

    Joined:
    Sep 2, 2013
    Posts:
    112
    I started reading this and I thought about the movie zombieland. How it had the kill of the week. Using traps or random events in the world to use to your advantage. Trick the enemies into killing themselves.
     
  12. andrew3a3

    andrew3a3

    Joined:
    Aug 29, 2015
    Posts:
    9
    Yeah that would be pretty cool to incorperate....I'll delve into the possibility of that once I get the core mechanics good.....I'll try to post a beta in a month or two or three
     
  13. Not_Sure

    Not_Sure

    Joined:
    Dec 13, 2011
    Posts:
    3,546
    Beat-em-ups have lots of different play mechanics that can be tacked on, but I think the core mechanic is always crowd control.

    You move around to lure enemies into the right position and pound on a stray. Then you need to back off before other enemies come into range. Or you can knock that stray into the oncoming enemy to give you more room.

    Add on enviromental hazards (always fun), throws, weapons, health drops, special moves, RPG elements, combos, path choices, and so on.
     
  14. andrew3a3

    andrew3a3

    Joined:
    Aug 29, 2015
    Posts:
    9
    thats a really good point...never really though about that but I know I've done it in beat em ups plenty of times
     
  15. andrew3a3

    andrew3a3

    Joined:
    Aug 29, 2015
    Posts:
    9
    battletoads is the S***......crazy action!