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Exsanguis | 2024
In Exsanguis, you are a servant of the Blood God, sworn to cleanse the land of the undead. Players fight through relentless waves in a procedurally generated dungeon, growing stronger with each room they purge. After every battle, the Blood God grants you a choice, to enhance your power in blood magic, electricity, or fire before you continue to slash, cast and dash your way through.
4 Weeks | 10 students
Combat Designer
Dungeon Crawler, Hack & Slash
Unreal Engine 5 | PC
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Game
- Contribution -
I worked on forming the initial game concept with the team, mainly focusing on the type of gameplay elements we wanted.
I designed different enemy types which were then further expanded by the team collectively.
I worked on how the progression should take place as well as brainstorming with different player abilities.
I tweaked and balanced several gameplay variables influencing both player and enemy stats. Additionally, I implemented events and functions related to game feel, visuals and feedback.
- Combat Design -
In Exsanguis, our team aimed for fast-paced combat and a progression system that made players feel increasingly powerful with each room, while ensuring enemies grew stronger as well, without diminishing the sense of growth. The game unfolds in a dynamically shuffled mix of pre-designed dungeon rooms which significantly enhanced replayability by combining randomized and structured power-ups offered to the player after each finished room.
Randomized power-ups
Special ability upgrades
Holding the attack input charges the sword, rotating it based on how long the button is held. Once it reaches a certain threshold, an FOV change signals that the charge is maxed, and the player can unleash a heavy attack.
Heavy/Combo attack
Light attacks
Animations and sounds play accordingly, alternating between a combo and two regular swings, created through the actor sequencer. The hit registration events, set up by our gameplay programmer, are also triggered here.
After each attack, enemies are briefly stunned, giving the player breathing room and feedback on their hits. The stun duration varies between heavy and light attacks, but enemies can’t be stunned continuously, they have a cooldown before they can be stunned again.
Stunning enemies
When defeated, enemies collapse, spilling blood that can be collected for Mana and Health. They are then recycled and respawned until the required blood amount is gathered to complete the level.
Enemies dropping blood
I gave enemies randomized walk speeds upon spawning, to spread them across the map while chasing the player. This allowed some enemies to be occasionally spawned more aggressive then others by chance.
- Reflection & Learnings -
Throughout the project, we went through many iterations and brainstorming sessions. My goal as a gameplay designer was to create a more polished combat system with hard-hitting, satisfying combos, but the lack of animators and artists meant the visual aspect fell behind compared to the game's impressive technical backend. However, collaborating with my teammates gave me the opportunity to learn a lot when it comes to iteration and implementation.
At the end, we showcased our game at Game Town, receiving feedback from industry professionals, and watching them enjoy what we created was worth all the effort!
Credits:
Yankı Savgat – Combat Designer
Joel Danzer – Tools & Systems Programmer, PO
Martin Grabinski – Technical & Systems Designer
Hanna Wedmalm – Narrative, Level & UI Designer, Scrum master
Noel Grünbaum – Level Designer
Filip Clavin – System & AI Programmer
Gustav Johansson – Gameplay & Lead Programmer
Ana-Marija Piperkoska – Gameplay Programmer