ABOUT
Valiant is a 3rd Person Action RPG inspired by games like Monster Hunter and Dauntless. The player wields the Polearm, a dangerous weapon that can harness the power of supernatural magic-like energy called "Aura." Aura can create incredible powers and abilities. Ranging from faster slashes to incredible energy-based projectiles referred to as "Discharges."
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Your ability to take down the storm dragon, Therion, comes down to your ability to manage your resources and get in damage before it can counter attack. Be sure to avoid his dangerous lightning and wind-based attacks before they shut you down.
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Valiant was a solo developed indie game, designed and programmed by myself, with art assets from TurboSquid and the Unreal Marketplace.
AURA
Aura is the life energy controlled by the user of a Polearm. Aura is gained by dealing damage and by blocking damage. If a Polearm wielder is struck, they will lose aura.
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If the user has lots of aura, their base attack speed will increase, allowing them to hack and slash like lightning strikes. The player can additionally consume aura to create 'discharges' which release large bursts of energy in the form of two different projectiles: the Pulse Shot and the Nova Bomb. The Pulse Shot being a low cost, high fire rate projectile, while the Nova Bomb deals destructive damage in a larger area.
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Aura was added to the game to create satisfying gameplay moments and to enforce a much more defensive playstyle. While going in polearm blazing is fun, it is hard to force players to slow down and play more patiently. Therion has tools to get the player off of him at close range, pushing the player back and then using an Electric Orb attack from a distance to to take down the player from a range. These orbs will slowly float towards the player and can only be destroyed if the player destroys them with an aura based projectile. Meaning they should always keep extra in case of emergency.
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By giving the player benefits to staying alive and taking as little damage as possible, it forces them to play smart and punishes them for rushing in without a thought.
THERION
Therion is a storm dragon, meaning all of his attacks use both wind and lightning. Therion has a wide assortment of attacks used to harm the player, ranging from homing tornados, close range claw attacks, lightning beams, electric fields, and more.
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Therion lacks mobility, so players need to carefully dodge attacks and do their best to weave in combos to take him down. By performing combos or interacting with Therion in specific ways, players can influence how Therion will react, meaning if he is currently using a long-range attack and the player gets close, he will have to switch to a different set of logic that controls his close-range attacks.
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This goes a step further when a proficient player is dealing a ton of damage and bypassing Therions attacks effectively, prompting him to switch to different, more difficult behaviors which will challenge even the most proficient of players.
This fundamental design behind the player and Therion's attacks allowing either to control the fight allows the player to never truly feel like they are fighting an uphill or downhill battle.
HIGH
AND
LOW
Valiant has a heavy emphasis on high and low ground, something that games like Monster Hunter and Dauntless were lacking in at the time of creation.
I really wanted there to be more dynamic situations that the player could find themselves in, which lead to the dynamic of Therion being able to control multiple aspects of the arena. He will do this by shocking the floor, forcing the player to stand on pillars, making them susecptible to projectile attacks. Alternatively, therion can also summon small tornados, which the player must hide behind the pillars in order to dispel. This dynamic means the player must stay on their toes in order to find openings to deal damage.
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This boss-specific gameplay isn't usually found in this genre. Instead, bosses are typically fought in a flat open area with little to no height difference. By adding in pillars to allow for new types of attacks from both the player and boss, the gameplay diversifies from typically action RPG elements and shifts more towards a 3D platformer, where your movement is just as important as your core combos and combat systems.
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CLEAN AND ORGANIZED BLUEPRINTS
An aspect of Valiant that I'm especially proud of is my blueprint organization. There is a ton of abilities and mechanics tucked away in the main character blueprint, and thus I had to categorize and color-coordinate different sections in order to not get anything lost in the sea of nodes.
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Looking back on it now, there is absolutely more room for improvement, such as the fact that I did not use additional Graphs to categorize different sections with ease, etc. Despite that room for growth, the current state of the project remains incredibly easy to go back to and look at older game logic in case I need something similar for a newer project.