By Welcome back to the Time Rivals Weekly Devlog! This week at Studio 316, we’ve continued to expand the systems and world of Time Rivals. We have exciting progress on another Rival to share with you, and some previews of more to come!
The Rivals
Quick as a Flash
Last week we brought you Goobert, the chemical scientist who returned from the past thanks to the Showrunner’s technology. This week we’re focusing on his polar opposite, who we teased a little last week: Shutter, the overwhelming and quite literally blinding fast Rival who comes from our present.
Shutter is an ex-Yakuza member who retired for a quiet life in photography, but when the Showrunner arrived to recruit him Shutter could not resist the kind of photo opportunities a time-travelling TV show might present to him. Shutter picked up his trusty SMG once more to leap into the arena with and didn’t look back. This week we’re giving you a closer look at the Rival – his concept, the continued work in progress of his model, and his unique gameplay.
Previous
Next
Here’s a look at Shutter’s gameplay too! His primary weapon is his SMG, which we’re planning to make a simple, consistent DPS option that will be easy for everyone new to the game to pick up and play around with. It’s harder to balance than you’d expect – we have to consider fire rate, bullets to a magazine, spread and of course damage per bullet.
Our designer Tom has been working on Shutter’s gameplay, and here’s how the SMG works in game thus far. We also have Shutter’s own unique ability figured out and being worked on – a flashbang effect that Shutter uses a camera to perform (here represented by a white box), in fitting with his character. Here’s a clip of the first iteration in action! Remember, these are works in progress, and things will definitely be more polished up when Time Rivals releases.
So who’s up next? All we can say is, something wicked this way comes. Take a quick preview of next week’s focus, the mysterious and frightening Matron. The Matron will fire shards of concentrated dark metal, penetrating right through opponents and causing concentrated explosions with any missed shards. This prototype was created by Joe, and we’ll have more to share on the Matron next week.
On Location
The first multiplayer arena for Time Rivals will be set in a scenic riverside town inspired by the likes of Venice. The water will serve as the main arena hazard, where the canals strewn across the map can be used by canny players to quickly take advantage of their placed Clone Pods, dying and quickly respawning at a point of their choosing.
We’re still in the process of developing our map, and with the constant changing and iteration of our characters we still have to playtest with these changes in mind. Regardless, here are a few shots of our blockouts. Tom has been working on the blockout for testing, thinking about different gameplay styles and sightlines. It’s always good to have options!
Previous
Next
On the Next Episode…
Next time we publish a weekly devlog, we’ll have more to share with you on the mysterious Matron, our next Rival for the pipeline, and some more nitty-gritty mechanical work that shows you how each Rival will play in the Arena.
See you next week!
-Time Rivals Dev Team
All Rights Reserved. Designed & Developed by Studio 316