[Prototype] Raptor Polo

edited in Projects
So @MCA, @TasticLuc and I made a beautiful prototype baby for Ludum Dare.

It's called Raptor Polo for now, and we're really keen to work on it further :).

Raptor Polo is a 2 or 4 local multiplayer game where the Ork elite ride RAPTORS THAT SMOKE AND HAVE MOHAWKS and play polo using scampering humans as balls.

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Playable with 1 player. Built for a controller ideally, but works with keyboard controls. Feedback would be great, but as a local multiplayer game we're going to playtesting it in person a lot :).

PC Controls
P1 Movement: WASD
P1 Grab Ball: Hold Down 'C' until you catch the ball (by running into it).
P1 Swing Axe: 'V'

P2 Movement: Arrow Keys
P2 Grab Ball: Hold Down 'M' until you catch the ball (by running into it).
P2 Swing Axe: 'N'

Controller CONTROLS:
Left Analog Stick for Movement
Right analog stick for axe rotation

Hold down left trigger until you make contact with ball and pick it up, release left trigger to throw it up
Right trigger to do a 360 degree rotation of the axe
Left bumper/Left analog stick pushed down to sprint

Score 3 points in the goal that's opposite to your color to win!

Builds

Polished Unity version Itch.io
Original Jam Version (Free Axe Movement)
Post Jam version (Restricted Axe Movement)

Feedback Questions
1. Did you find it challenging, but plausible to catch the ball?
2. Did you find it possible and responsive to hit the ball on the ground, without being held in the mouth?
3. Between the two builds, did you prefer having the axed locked to a position or having free reign of its movement with he right analog stick?
4. Did you grasp the control scheme easily? Was it too complex?

We're gonna test out a lot of different modes for the game and see which direction is most fun :).

Comments

  • Oh and this is the first game I've made that's ever got a YouTube Let's Play ( I think the same with @TasticLuc and @MCA) so that's pretty awesome :D.

    (It's a laggy and buggy build, but it's still valuable and funny to watch).

    Thanked by 3MCA dammit Pomb
  • Feedback Questions
    1. Did you find it challenging, but plausible to catch the ball?
    PJ: Yes.
    OJ: Yes.

    2. Did you find it possible and responsive to hit the ball on the ground, without being held in the mouth?
    PJ: Is it possible, yes. Is it responsive, yes but with the restricted axe movement hitting the ball on the ground is less skillfull and often just happens by mistake.
    OJ: Yes.

    3. Between the two builds, did you prefer having the axed locked to a position or having free reign of its movement with he right analog stick?
    Original for the win. I like the fact that I can run around the field just swing my axe around and hitting the ball because it makes the game seem a lot more fast paced and funny.

    With restricted axe movement it really boils down to strategic catching on the field which seems, lame because when you catch the ball is pretty erratic hence little strategy. I guess you could go around hitting the swing button but that didn't feel as fun as manually swinging it.


    4. Did you grasp the control scheme easily? Was it too complex?
    Yup.

    Idea. What if with the free axe movement there's a variable hit force. less swing = smaller hit. Not too sure how it'd affect the game though.

    Thanked by 1Bensonance
  • @SUGBOERIE Thanks for the feedback! :D

    The suggestion of free movement with the axe is the first iteration of design I want to try out. As both you and @TheFuntastic have now suggested, the swinging around of the axe with right stick feels really good :).
  • So much love for this. Stoked to see you take it further!
  • Woah!

    Haven't posted here in ages. Bunch of stuff has happened since the Ludum Dare version. Moved towards having the ball be a player, and any player can act as a ball if they're not on a Raptor. Added a mechanic that players can 'shield' - if a raptor-mounted player runs into them when they're shielded, that player gets dismounted. The game is now a lot more about mounting/dismounting raptors and trying to score.

    When Raptor Polo was at Super Friendship Arcade, I noticed most players just focused on running around and hitting each other - often only randomly scoring. This is partly a teaching problem - but it's also just because running around and hitting each other feels the most fun. So I added a sort of 'Bloodbowl' mode where each player has health that can be drained through hitting them in various ways. When they reach 0 health, the player that hit them last, scores a goal. I need to test this mode soon, but I feel it's a better direction as it rewards players for hitting each other - which is clearly what most players enjoy :D. Depending how testing goes, I might end up removing 'goals' entirely from the game.

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    Bloodbowl5.gif
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    Thanked by 2dammit Tuism
  • edited
    Love the idea of any dismounted player being the ball. Sounds wonderfully disempowering/empowering.

    Does this mean your opponents can score by knocking you around? Is that the only way to score? (I think it's an inspired way, but your phrase "Moved towards having the ball be a player, and any player can act as a ball if they're not on a Raptor" might mean it's some kind of sliding scale of players being balls).

    Scoring by knocking opponents around also seems like a solution to players naturally wanting to knock each other around.

    Trench Run is, I feel, the mahogany of knocking living opponents around right now:
    image
  • edited
    @BlackShipsFilltheSky

    Yup the dismounting is pretty great in terms of swaying the power :).

    Yup, opponents can score by knocking you into goals :). Previously it was the only way to score, but now with the reducing of each player's health, they can score that way too.

    There's no 'sliding scale' - if I get what you mean. Players can dismount each other, and then mount Raptors. So players aren't taking turns being the ball as a deliberate part of the system.


    There's always one less Raptor than a player, so there will always be at least one player on the ground vulnerable as a ball.
    Scoring by knocking opponents around also seems like a solution to players naturally wanting to knock each other around
    Yeah, that was the idea. However, at the moment, it's really unclear to most players that you score that way. Need to do a bunch of work and iteration to teach this better.
  • This is really fun, had a go with a friend of mine and both agree with the comments made in the youtube video about the controls feeling less than optimal, but other than that I really dig it. Also found myself wanting boots of speed every now and then. I wanted to do some spit painting and thought because I had fun on this I'd just paint an orc on a raptor.
    Cool game @Bensonance :D
    image
  • edited
    @Pomb That's soooooo coooool!!!!
    Bensonance said:
    Yeah, that was the idea. However, at the moment, it's really unclear to most players that you score that way. Need to do a bunch of work and iteration to teach this better.
    @Bensonance I haven't studied players playing the most recent Raptor Polo, and obviously I know the rules (so I can't guess very well what players are experiencing). But I have the feeling that the graphics, and to some extent the theming don't teach the rules very well. The goals are stone heads, and I'm not really sure how real polo works. Do the opponents roll like balls when you hit them? (If players don't turn into balls when they get smacked around that's going to be fucking confusing). Those might be tricky things to change, I guess I'm saying that among other things those might be avenues worth considering.
    Thanked by 1Bensonance
  • Btw what's stopping the ball from just rolling into a ball permanently to never be vulnerable? In which case noone can do anything?
    Thanked by 1Bensonance
  • @Pomb

    Sooooo great! :D

    Which version did you play, out of interest? :)

    @BlackShipsFilltheSky I think that's a very astute point about the theming. I think a lot of the visual communication (theming etc.) needs to be reworked for clearer communication. I'm also not sure the current animation suggests "shielding/defence" either :).

    @Tuisim You can only shield for a short time, and then there's a cooldown until you can shield again :).
  • edited
    Capturing GIFs of a local multiplayer game by your self is pretty sad... but I overcame that to show capture this GIF showing some more 'Blood Bowl' gameplay.

    Haven't had the chance to work on the visual feedback yet. :)

    PS: Yeah that one Jockey on the floor totally disappears, haven't figured out why yet :P.
  • I love your screenshake !! Its some sort of hipster version of screenshake.
  • Hey hey hey!

    A new version of Raptor Polo is up on Itch.io - it was rebuilt in Unity!



    Added Mac support, gameplay tweaks, feedback changes, juice, join screen, sound effects and so on!

    image

    I'm pretty conflicted about this game right now. I see it's potential, but it feels like right now, it would be better spending the time on other prototypes/games. It was also disconcerting being unable to find an artist for so long. Maybe one day we'll come back to it, with new art and stuff, but for now, this is probably the last build for a while <3.
    Play1.gif
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    Thanked by 2SUGBOERIE MCA
  • @Pomb Your orc looks very much like Huskar :P Really Rad painting you did there!

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