WIP Ninja-stealth game

Hey, Unity community!

This thread is about the game I'm currently working on.

In this stealth game you will be playing the role of silent assassin in a world reminding off medieval Japan with some steampunk elements.

Here're couple of gameplay videos:

Please share your thoughts, questions and whatever else.

Please forgive me for grammar mistakes, english is not my native language. Will be gratefull for corrections.

See ya,

Andrey

you can follow me on blogspot: http://ninja-stealth.blogspot.com
Also there's a page on IndieDB: http://www.indiedb.com/games/ninja-stealth
Here's a twitter for quick updates: https://twitter.com/NinjaStealthDev

 

Hey Andrey - nice start.

I like your stylistic characters and the animations seem to fit well.

Disclaimer (I know nothing about AI)
The AI looks well done and functional, but from the video it look like the game would get pretty boring pretty fast because it's essentially sneaking up without being seen and kill. If you do get noticed - run away (because your faster than all your opponents) until they loose track of you and wait until they resume normal AI behavior. Then sneak and kill.

We have played this game several times before, Metal Gear version ... and Splinter Cell version ... and the early Assassins Creeds were slightly more advanced but the same.

It would really be great if your game offered something different than those.

Second point - mobile pretty much demands short play sessions. I'm genuinely interested in how you are going to deliver short play sessions with a stealth based action game. Difficult challenge, but it's doable.

Keep the updates coming.

 

Hey, theANMATOR2b,

thanks for the comment.

Sure, the stealth mechanics is about sneaking&killing. Just like slashers are about clicking & killing and most FPS'es are about.. well just killing

I even think of adding penalties for unnecessary kills, so there will be even more sneaking and less killing.

But i got your point, and you're right. Deffinetely i will think of some additional gameplay elements that are different of stealth for player not to get bored of constant sneaking. First thing that go in mind is some kind of investigation gameplay a-la batman detective mode or witcher's sense. Boss battles is another good thing to think of.

"Second point - mobile pretty much demands short play sessions".

Good point. Thing is I never did a single game by my own, and therefore I never faced problems like this one. Should deffinetely think of it. Maybe I should break each game level into a nubmer of relatively small "rooms" and autosave player in the start of each "room". This way he won't loose game progress even if he play only small amount of time each time he starts the game.

As for AI - it is very basic setup right now. Current states are Peace(Patrolling the route), Wonder(when something attracts enemy's attention) and Battle(chasing and attacking). Will be a little more complicated in the near future.

Models and animations are just placeholders, all of them will be replaced. But I'm glad you like it

 

Looking good! I'll be keeping an eye on this! But don't let mobiles have all the fun, PC needs a good tenchu like game!

 

Hey, nasoukikos!

Glad you like it. I looks like i'm not the only one who likes games about ninjas


Some progress: today I've added ability for player to carry bodies of dead enemies. There are some minor bugs, but in general it already looks as expected. Didn't think out yet what to do, if player dies while carrying the body. I don't use ragdolls, so player will play animation but dead-enemy will just fly at the place. It looks like there will be additional synced death animation for both player and body he carrying.

The video:

 

Maybe make a different animation when dying when carrying a body? Or you could use ragdolls and do something similar to what Hitman does with the bodies.

p.s. You certainly aren't alone

 

Don't want to use ragdoll yet, trying to keep things simple, at least for now.

If player get killed while carrying body, for now it looks kinda funny

the video:

 

I kinda liked it

 

This looks really good already for a first pass. Waiting to see the next iteration on it.

So how'd you do that?
Is the enemy rig animated into place - synced with the player character animation 'pick up dead enemy'?
Then enemy root parented to the player root while the player moves while carrying the body?
Then enemy rig is animated back down to the ground and root parent is un-parented from the player root?

However you accomplished this, its really cool.

 

Hey, you described it almost exactly how I did it

 

Quick update:

Today I added ability for player to hide in barrels. It can be usefull, if player stuck in a dead end and enemy is coming this way.

the video:

P.S. The barrel that I used as a placeholder for this test is a free asset from the asset store. Here's the link: https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/18994

Thanks to the asset's author!

 

Quick update:

This video shows new UI indicators of enemy's awareness level. White indicator means that the enemy is calm. Yellow means enemy is wondering. Red means enemy is alarmed. And the purple means enemy is searching for the player.

This video shows new enemy's AI state - searching for player. Enemy finds the dead body and then tries to find, who did this.

 

I wanna buy this! Awsome idea and perfect animations!

 

Hey Patico! Glad you like it, thanks!

New in this update:
- doors - they can be used by the player and also by enemies. Door can be locked and then it will require an item to unlock it, in this particulary case it is the key. Enemies can't see through a door but can hear what's happening beside it. Locked door will also block ai path.

-item system. Player now has inventory and can pick up items. Some enemies can also have items in their inventory, wich can be stolen by the player or taken from the dead body.

the video:

 

this is spectacular!, you have a twitter for updates on the go?

 

Hey, Thanks!

I do have twitter now : https://twitter.com/NinjaStealthDev

 

Quick update:

Currently working on new models for the main hero character and the enemy guard. Im not so good at modelling/texturing so it takes a lot of time to aсcomplish.

 

Nice looking models. Dont get frustrated - quality assets take time to get right. Your on the right track.
In the end it wont matter how fast the characters were completed, but it will matter how good they look.
Nice touch on the secondary motion on the sword.
Quality progress.

 

I've been wondering what ever happened to the Ninja/Stealth genre after Tenchu Stealth Assassins, I guess no one wanted to challenge this genre after that game lol. Glad to see someone working on a new Ninja game! Really Cool!

 

theANMATOR2b, Im totally with you in this. Thank you!

Kuroato, I guess ninjas are not in trends anymore Thanks for the comment!

 

Ninja's are always awesome! lol... maybe your the one to bring'em back!

 

Very cool, I haven't played a Tenchu game before but I do enjoy Splinter Cell a lot. The models are looking good and new animations are turning out nicely. So far the gameplay seems solid as well.

Though I have to agree with @theANMATOR2b in one of his earlier posts. The gameplay style/genre doesn't lend itself well to mobile devices. I know in past experiences I have sat in the shadows scoping out the best route for a long time in this style of game. Breaking this game up into smaller rooms may mess with the pacing a bit, making it feel like it is disjointed.

Also how doesn't the game feel on a mobile device in terms of controls. I am assuming that this is going to be using virtual joysticks and buttons. I'm more just wondering at this point than concerned.

With those gripes asides, good luck on the game, it is looking good so far.

 

Darkays, Hey! Thank you for the comment.

Right now I can't really say if the game will fit great for mobiles, and I won't be able to say it until I will do the couple of finished levels at least. Right now the game is playable but a little boring. So I'm focusing on trying new features and new mechanics instead of making theories if it will work or not.

As for controls, there are no problems right now. Virtual joystick for movement at the left of a screen. At the right: virtual button for sit/stand, virtual button for action (doors, barrels, silent kills, stealing etc), and touch-and-drag in any place on the right half of the screen except of butttons will rotate the camera. Also you can throw rock with double-tap on the screen. Not very casual controls, but my wife plays it without any problems and she is not a hardcore type of player. I will try to build an android demo this month if anyone of you guys want to test it.

However there are some problems with controls. Currently im working on new combat system with blocks and dodges. Also player will be able to fight with several enemies at the same time. On PC there are separate buttons for dodge, block and attack, and also one button if you want to cancel the fight and run away (holding shift, like in assassin's creed). I didn't came out how to put it all on mobile yet, because this is not my priority task for now. But my brain hurts when I trying to think how to simplify this system to be playable on mobile. Will see.

Edit:
I tried to create couple of runners before, but I didn't like games that I was trying to create, just not my type of a game. This time i'm enjoying the process.Just because I love stealth games and I want to make my own. So if game won't be good on mobiles, I won't break the game mechanics but instead will continue to develop the game for PC.

 

That's great to hear, don't compromise on your vision just to get it released on another platform!

The controls issues seem like it would be a nightmare to figure out. The different mechanics that are typically found in stealth action games would be hard to simplify and still have a dynamic play experience. Boiling down a stealth game to its pure core you would find something more along the lines of Hitman Go, which isn't a bad thing by any means, it just no longer looks like the genre of game you are trying to bring to the mobile platform. Another example of this is Republique where it still looks like a stealth action game like Assassin's Creed, but you aren't directly in control of your character (though I haven't played Republique so I can't say much on how it feels to play).

I'm glad you are enjoying working on the game and hope you find success. I will keeping up with your progress!

 

Hey guys!

I didn't have much time to work on game last month. Mostly what i was doing is making new animations for player and guard. Though there's some new features in the gameplay.

1) Now when you do multiple attacks in one raw, they will become a combo. Also, all attack animations now use root motion so player is no longer nailed to the ground while attacking.

The video:

2) Player can roll now. While rolling, he is moving faster, then while crouching, but still he is less visible and hearable than when he is running. So player can use rolling to cross some small areas where he can be seen (doorways for example) , or to get closer to the enemy faster.

The video:

3) Enemies are now able to block player's attacks. I did this because it was too easy to kill 2 or 3 enemies before. Now 2 enemies is a challenge. In the video I kill 3 of them but don't be fooled, im the master (got lucky actually). When enemy blocks player's attack he stuns him for a short time and do a counter attack. While player is stuned he however can roll to avoid being hit by enemies counter attack.

The Video:

The first enemy in this video has very high chance of blocking (80%) for you to be able to see what is actually happening. Three enemies in the end have 20% chance of blocking.

 

After dozens of played android games I must say that rotating camera by touch on screens smaller than 7'' is completely failed idea. If you really want to make this mobile you should change perspective to top down or change controls to something that don't require running fingers on smaller screens.
But i think that better idea would be add co-op multiplayer and release it on steam.

Anyway this is one of my favourite games on this forum.

 

1Piotrek1,

Adding co-op multiplayer is unreachable target for me at least for now.

Will consider changing perspective.

In this tech videos Im playing on pc, so of course, right hand on the mouse and im constantly looking around. But the game doesn't require rotating camera very often. Targeting to the enemies in fight is automatic. Same goes for interacting with objects. Generally, you have to look around only to see who is where. I can't call myself very hardcore mobile gamer but I have no problems with controls for now. Though, as I said, I will definetely think if top-down perspective will be a better solution.

Thanks for the comment.

 

Hey!

Was fooling around today and added some sounds into the game. The voice is recorded with my laptop's builtin mic

Oh.. also I rewrote enemy's alarm system, now he can react to more different events. Opened door in this video is one example.

 

Hey Everyone!

I have couple of new videos.

The first video is the brief preview of climbing system I'm currently working on:

The second video show's 2 small new features. First, player is now able to see, what's happening behind the door.

Second feature is that objects of environment can now have different material properties. For example when player runs on the black ground from this video, his footstep sounds louder and therefore enemies in larger area can hear them.

Let me know, what you think!

 

Looks great, I really like the climbing.

 

That climbing looks stellar!

 

Glad you like it guys.

 

i love it!(im a big fan of stealth games), your climbing system is really smooth, im curious how it will look once u start on modelling the environment.

 

Hi guys!

Short video of progress just to let you know im not dead or something Things are going slow, but this is hobby project. Unfortunately I rarely have time to work on it.

improvements since last update are:
-usable items / abilities system with a placeholder ui for selecting active ability/item
-health potions
-couple of brain improvements for guards
-climbing system with one-button free run (you hold one button and character climbs everything on his way)
-jumping
-grappling hook ("tenchu" 1&2 style, not sure how it is done in newer ones)

currently working on the range attacking enemy. You may say what the hell, middle-ages and guns. But whatever, i like the idea

 

Finished animation rig for the ranger character

 

Wow, this looks excellent

 

Enemy can now climb up the obstacles or jump down from it. There not so much places left for player to hide in

Currently thinking if he should be able to climb any obstacle or in certain predefined places, like ladders. What do you guys think of it?

The video:

p.s. Also you may have noticed I changed some of player's character movement animations to look more anime-alike.

 

i think having the enemys climb only in certain places will work best.
u r making good progress andrei!!

 

Thanks!

Yeah, I also think ladders would work better. Point is there will be some places where enemies shouldn't be able to climb, like rooftops of the buildings. And some places where they will be able to climb. If there wouldn't be ladders, at any given point player may be confused if enemy can suddenly climb to him on not. With ladders however he would know for sure: ok, he can climb here, but he can't climb there.

 

I decided to implement ladders for enemies instead of letting them climb anywhere they want.

 

i dont see why noOne replies to this, its alot better then most of the threads, so i will
looks good!! exactly as i thought.
when u gonna start on replacing the prototype environment? i would love to help.

 

Thank you for the support!

I think there's just not enought content and game isn't that attractive yet.

Currently im working on implementing the ranger into the game. After that i will probably adress environmental elements for the first level. Still don't know for sure how I will design levels. I mean model it entirely in the third party editor (max/maya) or build it out of parts inside the unity.

I highly appriciate you proposal of help, but unfortunately I don't have any budget for this project to pay for your service. If what you propose is a volunteer work - than, of course, I will accept it with gratitude. Just tell me what exactly you can do.

 

Great job!

 

Such an impressive project. Love the videos you're providing, and I'm looking forward to the developments.

 

Thank you guys, hope it wont disappoint you.

 

I like your decision to only allow enemies to climb at ladders, and not everywhere like the player. I think this will help increase the strategy aspect of the game. However, from a level-design standpoint I think it would also be good to make some walls that even the player can't climb. Perhaps walls with jagged stone (like cobblestone) can be climbed but smooth stone (like marble) can't.

 

Hi Brett, thank you for the tip.

Of course there'll be places where player wont be able to climb, but I think it would be because of thorns on the top of the wall or something like that, not because the material of the wall is too slick. You see, player don't climb like a lizard on a smooth flat surface, he just grabs the top edge of the wall.

 

Finally added rangers into the game. Its already late here, so couple of screenshot instead of video this time.

 

Added some sounds for shots and ricochets:

 

I wish I had found this earlier, I'm trying to make a similar game in the same vain as Tenchu.

I would love to communicate if you've the time.

My game Voidkeeper: