This is the first post on a series where we talk about how we designed each weapon in the game. There are 8 secondary weapons in Copy Girl and they must all be useful! It’s not exactly easy designing something like that.
First of all, we have a small list of rules that every weapon must follow:
- Must fill a role that no other weapon does
- Must have a unique purpose
- Must not fall under the “dominant strategy” category
- The boss you get this weapon from will use it against you
Your main weapon is very good, it fires quickly and it has a wide hitbox, but it only travels a short distance in a straight line. The first few levels are being designed in a way that this weapon is an all-purpose destruction tool.
But it isn’t enough, specially against bosses, who’ll not stand right in front of you as often as most simple enemies do.
Today we’re gonna talk about the Ink Bubble weapon. It’s (for all intents and purposes) a physical weapon, so it’s affected by gravity and it’s stopped by solid objects. It has a long range but travels at an arc. It can also bounce on solids two times before disappearing.
Let’s check it against our rules from before:
- Must fill a role that no other weapon does
It travels at an arc so it can hit stuff over obstacles at a long distance
- Must have a unique purpose
It bounces, so it interacts with the scenery in a way no other weapon does
- Must not fall under the “dominant strategy” category
It requires some aiming, otherwise you might just shoot into a wall or right over or under your target. It’s limited by the physical world around you
- The boss you get this weapon from will use it against you
A bouncing weapon requires the player to be mindful of the trajectory when dodging it
But creating a weapon is just half the work that goes into designing them. We have to create enemies and situations that allow (or require) the player to use a weapon strategically against them
Here’s the Orbistar. It only wakes up once you get near, and then it’ll constantly fly in your direction. This might be a problem as avoiding them require good control of Copy
The Ink Bubble is perfect for the job:
Jumping down into an enemy will put you in danger! Luckily you have the right tool for the job:
Approaching this enemy is dangerous, if only you could attack it over this obstacle:
This was the first weapon we designed for the game, and it paved the way in creating the next ones. In future posts I’ll also be mentioning weapons that had big flaws or that were changed in order to fit a certain design rule.
