Star Wars Jedi parkour mechanic (Rapid Prototype)
For this project I set out to prototype a mechanic adding to the existing mechanics in the Jedi: Survivor game. Mainly as a way of adding more challenges to the parkour and puzzles found in the game world.
Expanding on the grab and freeze force abilities I thought this could also be used in the parkour/movement system apart from using it to grab onto rope to swing across areas. The idea that I had was to allow players to grab objects that can then be frozen in place and used as platforms. This means that the wall running sections could be placed further apart at sections where this ability could be used. To allow for there to be some sort of challenge to this the timer for how long an item will be frozen for will remain and these objects will be limited around the areas that they are intended to be used to avoid them being over in a way where the player can continuously jump from one to another and adjusting the location of the objects instead of using the other elements a level designer may have intended the player use.
To test this mechanic I roughly scripted a few of the movement mechanics found in the game using the Unreal engine and set up a short course with combinations between these mechanics and the one I wanted to test.
The controls for this mechanic would follow a similar control scheme to the game with the player holding button used for the grab force ability while in use and the freeze force ability when they want to confirm its placement. I also included the ability to rotate and change the distance of the object so the player has more control of the place of the platform. Currently, this is done by the player using the scroll wheel in combination with either the left shift or control button.
Post mortem
While this was supposed to be a short exercise to role-play the scenario of working on a game where there were already existing mechanics I feel that this could be expanded upon some more. For example, there could be an ability that quickly rotates the objects to be flat to reduce the amount of time the player is rotating these objects. Another thing take could be considered is how this could work into the combat of the game, if there is the ability to rotate these objects they could be used as a way to block incoming projectiles as an alternative to the parry function that uses a stamina bar as a limitation but would mean the player can’t deflect the projectiles back at the enemies. If there is an option for a quick rotation to make these objects flat it could also take inspiration from other media in the IP and give an option to spin the objects (like what the several characters do in both the movies and TV series) so they deal more damage when thrown at the enemies adding more options when it comes to combat with this having the risk of the player getting hit and disrupting the attack but rewarding the player with the attack dealing more damage.