Razor Cyclone

Store Page: https://expiredjam.itch.io/razorcyclone

Genre: Single player first person shooter
Engine: Unity
Team Size: 6

Role: Game Designer, Game Lead
Duration: August 2024 - Ongoing
Platform: PC ( Windows & Mac)

Game Summary

Razor Cyclone is a single-player, first-person endless arena movement shooter. The game’s core mechanic revolves around rotating the weapon and shooting to move, requiring players to eliminate enemies to replenish their ammo.

This game has 2 weapons, each one having its own unique movement and attack patterns. The player must rotate their weapon (which is a bike) and shoot in various directions to move around and attack enemies.

Context

Razor Cyclone is being developed as part of a class project, where the goal is to create a game over two semesters. I saw this as an opportunity to explore a concept I’ve had for years: a game where shooting is the sole means of movement. This project allows me to experiment with this unique "shoot to move" mechanic and push my design skills with unique challenges. To keep the scope manageable, I am designing it as an endless arena shooter entirely built around this core mechanic.

Weapon Affordances

Since RazorCyclone has only 2 weapons, I had to design them to be as versatile yet distinct as possible to ensure they provide the game with lots of depth.

Not only are they used to counter enemies in different ways, but they provide different movement options. Some of their usages do overlap however to avoid turning them into "silver bullets".

Enemy Purposes

Enemies need to challenge and reward the player in distinct ways to give each one interesting decision making during combat. Each enemy fills a role, and when there is overlap, there are still elements that differentiate them.

Because of how different the roles are, each enemy has their own unique mechanics and player interactions. This makes each enemy feel distinct, forcing the player to come up with a variety of strategies for how to counter each one.

Weapon/Enemy Interactions

Despite the player having only 2 weapons, there is still a lot of versatility in the way they can be used during combat.

Sometimes what makes a weapon interesting isn't what in can do, but what it can't do.

Some enemies are invincible to some attacks and vulnerable to others . However there are some attacks that have effects other than killing. These non lethal mechanics add a lot of depth and decision making to the combat.

Game Design Doc

This game is still in development, so the GDD is not complete.