{"id":1239,"date":"2025-12-14T12:19:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T17:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/?p=1239"},"modified":"2025-12-14T12:19:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T17:19:11","slug":"metal-mantis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/?p=1239","title":{"rendered":"Metal Mantis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I&#8217;m constantly pondering what to do about the &#8220;boss room&#8221; for the game. Honestly I&#8217;ve been stumped on how to make it fun. In the meantime I&#8217;ve done a bunch of smaller things on the game such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Another map<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I tried my hand at making a much much bigger map:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"712\" src=\"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-1-1024x712.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1241\" srcset=\"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-1-1024x712.png 1024w, https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-1-300x209.png 300w, https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-1-768x534.png 768w, https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-1.png 1354w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p> The thought was that the huge white cubes would be some kinda skyscrapers, the cones would be some kind of rubble breaking up sight-lines to make the game play a little closer range. I wanted the player to start at the edge of the city and have a set of terminals to control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video height=\"1080\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1920 \/ 1080;\" width=\"1920\" controls src=\"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2025-12-14_11-22-37.mp4\"><\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The building facades were things I made for a previous project that I never did much more with (see <a href=\"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/?p=979\">https:\/\/willkolb.com\/?p=979<\/a>). Then I applied the fence tool I made (see <a href=\"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/?p=1146\">https:\/\/willkolb.com\/?p=1146<\/a>) to give me the ability to quickly spin up those buildings. If I added some randomization tools to the model I think I would have a tool I probably distribute, but I&#8217;d have to re-write in C++ to make distribution cleaner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The map is MUCH bigger than anything I made so far and it showed a few holes in what I was thinking. The big one was that its kinda boring walking long distances without some kind of sprinting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sprinting (and Footstep audio rework)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video height=\"1080\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1920 \/ 1080;\" width=\"1920\" controls src=\"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2025-12-14_11-28-34.mp4\"><\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I added a few things here, the sprinting (obviously) the head bobbing and the audio playback tracks. The foot steps are still not amazing, it should be the same footsteps just a bit faster and pitched differently. However I&#8217;m just mixing between two sounds at the moment. You can see the audio graph below<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"626\" src=\"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-2-1024x626.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1244\" srcset=\"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-2-1024x626.png 1024w, https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-2-300x183.png 300w, https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-2-768x470.png 768w, https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-2.png 1377w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It seems like a lot but really all it really has is that the red &#8220;Sprinting&#8221; input block feeds an audio mixer that goes from walking footsteps to running footsteps. Everything else is just for sound levels and multipliers. I&#8217;m still new to the metasound stuff but there&#8217;s some info here if interested (<a href=\"https:\/\/dev.epicgames.com\/documentation\/en-us\/unreal-engine\/metasounds-the-next-generation-sound-sources-in-unreal-engine\">https:\/\/dev.epicgames.com\/documentation\/en-us\/unreal-engine\/metasounds-the-next-generation-sound-sources-in-unreal-engine<\/a>). Interestingly enough this is probably the most applicable thing to my day-job. If metasounds worked on embedded targets my life would become exponentially easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Boss Doors<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"497\" src=\"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-3-1024x497.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1245\" srcset=\"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-3-1024x497.png 1024w, https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-3-300x146.png 300w, https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-3-768x373.png 768w, https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-3.png 1350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This is kinda wierd to demonstrate visually but basically those two white blocks are &#8220;boss doors&#8221; that will only go down once you capture all points on a map. What that buys me is a place to put all of those overpowered bots I made such as the rocketeer (see <a href=\"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/?p=750\">https:\/\/willkolb.com\/?p=750<\/a>). I have it in there in a very hacked manner where essentially the cubes are marked as &#8220;boss doors&#8221; and then just straight up delete themselves if there&#8217;s no more points to capture. In the future I want to put more of a process to take down the doors once the controls points are captured. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Weapon Handling\/Damage<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I realized one of the most annoying things is that shooting has WAAYYY to much recoil and its very hard to hit targets so I increased damage and lowered recoil so you have a bit more power on your side. My thought is that I want the player to loose around 5% of health per encounter and each encounter with a bot should take around 5-ish seconds. I have no way to characterize these numbers but simply going by feel. At the end of the day this is something I need to catch if I send out copies to friends for play testing (maybe I should add telemetry?) <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video height=\"1080\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1920 \/ 1080;\" width=\"1920\" controls src=\"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2025-12-14_11-48-03.mp4\"><\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Mantis Turret<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The turrets kinda suck in the boss area at the moment they&#8217;re just sticks with tubes on the top:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"897\" src=\"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-4-1024x897.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1247\" srcset=\"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-4-1024x897.png 1024w, https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-4-300x263.png 300w, https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-4-768x673.png 768w, https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-4.png 1246w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Not very menacing and they&#8217;re more annoying than anything. So I started thinking about how I would build a kinda moving turret and I came up with this guy: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"691\" src=\"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-5-1024x691.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1248\" srcset=\"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-5-1024x691.png 1024w, https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-5-300x202.png 300w, https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-5-768x518.png 768w, https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-5.png 1334w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Which fits the same idea that the bots have where the top gun can be pretty much whatever I want just by modeling some kind of mount for it. The gun in this case is a new weapon I&#8217;m currently modeling\/rigging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-6-1024x590.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1249\" srcset=\"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-6-1024x590.png 1024w, https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-6-300x173.png 300w, https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-6-768x442.png 768w, https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-6-1536x884.png 1536w, https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image-6.png 1624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Which takes some inspiration from Helldivers Autocannon (<a href=\"https:\/\/helldivers.fandom.com\/wiki\/AC-8_Autocannon\">https:\/\/helldivers.fandom.com\/wiki\/AC-8_Autocannon<\/a>) But really is more of a Barrett M82 (<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Barrett_M82\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Barrett_M82<\/a>) turned upside down with a Bren gun style sight (<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bren_light_machine_gun\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bren_light_machine_gun<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The gun is far from complete but the Mantis side is rigged and in game:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video height=\"1080\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1920 \/ 1080;\" width=\"1920\" controls src=\"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2025-12-14_11-57-25.mp4\"><\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It was surprisingly fast to get working because I found out the proper way to use <a href=\"https:\/\/dev.epicgames.com\/documentation\/en-us\/unreal-engine\/control-rig-in-unreal-engine\">control rigs<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/dev.epicgames.com\/documentation\/en-us\/unreal-engine\/modular-control-rigs-in-unreal-engine\">modular rigs<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/dev.epicgames.com\/documentation\/en-us\/unreal-engine\/modular-control-rigs-in-unreal-engine\">https:\/\/dev.epicgames.com\/documentation\/en-us\/unreal-engine\/modular-control-rigs-in-unreal-engine<\/a> , plus see See the wrong way to use these here: <a href=\"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/?p=661\">https:\/\/willkolb.com\/?p=661<\/a>). Originally I thought it was a binary choice but I realized the modular rig is really just a way to auto generate a complex control rig. So now I probably should go back through my models and rework them, but really I think I&#8217;ll keep going with what I have. I still have a dream that all of the bots are physically animated (such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=hWwuinv4MEQ&amp;t=64s\">gta4<\/a>) but I think that dream is becoming a nightmare of technical debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Future thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I think my primary map for gameplay testing will be that small alley-like map instead of the large city. Mostly due to the smaller size which should lead to a quicker gameplay loop, I need to add more complexity to the boss room, add some rooms in windows and maybe some map destruction elements (such as windows, wall breaking etc.). Finally I wanted to try to add some vertical elements to each of the bots. I might throw on some more artifacts to make the game less about trying to hit a small horizontal line on the screen.  Also a new name is warranted, &#8220;BlackLace&#8221; was from cyberpunk and any of those elements are straight up gone now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A bunch to do and I&#8217;m aiming for a June-ish first build to send to people for gameplay testing, not for any reason just to give myself a bit of pressure. Good think it just started to get cold in Massachusetts, now I can justify hiding inside on my computer all day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m constantly pondering what to do about the &#8220;boss room&#8221; for the game. Honestly I&#8217;ve been stumped on how to make it fun. In the meantime I&#8217;ve done a bunch of smaller things on the game such as: Another map I tried my hand at making a much much bigger map: The thought was that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,7,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blender","category-gamedev","category-unreal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1239"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1251,"href":"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1239\/revisions\/1251"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willkolb.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}