Hiya everyone! Hunter Bridges right here. I’m one of the co-founders of Night Star, in addition to each Recreation Director and Technical Director for Penny’s Big Breakaway.
Penny’s Big Breakaway is our staff’s first 3D recreation, coming quickly to Xbox Sequence X|S, and we constructed it utilizing our in-house 3D engine, Star Engine. Constructing a 3D recreation engine from the floor up is tough work, however that’s okay with us. Night Star’s philosophy is that, by blazing our personal trails with know-how, our creativity will probably be sparked in distinctive methods.
In the present day, I need to contact on our design motivations, how that informs the digital camera system in addition to the management scheme, and the efficiency we had been in a position to unlock with the Xbox Sequence X|S.
Thro’ Yo’ Yo-Yo!
After we first began Night Star, we had been desirous to create a completely 3D recreation. We wished to provide you with a recreation idea that includes our personal characters and world, all powered by our proprietary Star Engine!
Whereas investing time in our engine, we began producing ideas for 3D video games. One individual’s thought from someday would encourage another person’s thought the subsequent day. Our staff kicked round a seed of an thought about utilizing a yo-yo, which shortly took root.
With this idea, our recreation designer Esteban Fajardo drew up a collection of sketches representing completely different “verbs” our character might carry out.
We felt like we had been onto one thing. Even on this primary kind, the character and yo-yo had been kinetic and thrilling! Some of these actions even made it into the closing recreation… “throw”, “sleep”, “trip” and “swing” had been all current from this early stage.
The staff additionally wished to create a colourful forged of characters, and we wished them to stay in a fantastical surroundings. Mixed with the Yo-Yo mechanics, this led to fluid motion in a singular world.
Placing the Proper “Spin” on it
As soon as we selected our core idea, we attacked it from each angle. We requested ourselves: What can we like about our favourite 3D platformers? What are components we wrestle with? What are some contemporary issues we might deliver to it?
Our staff surfaced a standard level of competition: the digital camera. In most 3D platformers, the participant is commonly tasked with managing the digital camera. We’re including new mechanics designed round yo-yo strikes. We wished the participant to deal with controlling that, as an alternative of consistently attending to the digital camera’s place and course.
We determined to go together with a “fastened” digital camera that the participant doesn’t management. The participant by no means has to consider the digital camera, however it’s going to at all times present them what they should see and the place they should go. This resolution profoundly influenced our gameplay and stage design.
Bump if You Leap
Alongside the digital camera, we had been exploring management schemes for motion and yo-yo actions. Presently, the character designs had been taking form too. We created Penny, and turned her common yo-yo into her trustworthy companion… aptly named Yo-Yo!
A key design pillar was ‘expression’. We wished to provide the participant most alternative to maneuver Penny and management Yo-Yo’s skills, and reward their talent. The best is anybody can create their very own “model” out of Penny’s sturdy core moveset.
Fast entry to Penny’s Yo-Yo strikes, in each course, was important to expressive motion. Assigning the proper thumb stick was the clear reply.
Since the proper stick grew to become so essential, we additionally wished the participant to play with out ever needing to carry their thumb from it. This lent itself to a “bumper jumper” management scheme, the place the soar motion is mapped to the L or R bumpers.
We tried a management scheme with simply analog sticks and bumpers. Instantly, we seen the empty set of face buttons felt unnatural. We additionally felt that gamers may not undertake an unconventional management scheme. We met in the center and assigned the face buttons extra historically– A button to leap, X button to throw, and B button to trip.
The result’s a management scheme that feels each acquainted to newcomers however offers a stage of motion management and suppleness that we imagine is exclusive!
Penny Takes the Stage on Xbox
When speaking about cameras and controls, responsiveness is the title of the recreation. It’s essential that the participant’s strikes really feel snappy and satisfying.
Xbox Sequence X|S can blast 120 frames per second! However meaning our recreation has to run quick sufficient to maintain up.
Because of the energy of this Xbox Sequence X|S, Penny’s Big Breakaway can run at full decision 120 Hz! On Sequence X, we assist 4K (3840×2160), and on Sequence S we assist 1440p (2560×1440). Plus, through the use of the new GameInput API, receiving enter from the gamepad occurs in tight sync with the excessive body fee, minimizing participant enter lag.
Take a bow, Penny!
While you take a brand new 3D platformer, give it an expressive management scheme, and run it at a buttery clean 120 Hz, the result’s a visceral motion recreation expertise like no different!
However don’t simply take it from me– you’ll need to attempt Penny’s Big Breakaway for your self. Penny and Yo-Yo make their debut on Xbox early this yr!