Chroma | Unreal Development Kit
About Chroma
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Chroma is an easy to learn, fast paced, innovative third-person multiplayer deathmatch game. Players fight on levels inspired by Avant-garde art and retro games. Players can also contribute directly to the artistic inspiration behind Chroma. Every shot and footstep in the game leaves behind a decal, allowing players to paint the level and add their own personal touch.
Chroma's primary gameplay twist is the ability for players to walk on any surface at any time. This creates a unique play experience where combat happens all around the player, and opens up numerous new possibilities for strategy, tactics, and visual wow moments within the deathmatch framework. Chroma features simple and intuitive controls that ensure players can hit the ground running. The game has only four weapons: the pistol, assault rifle, shotgun, and rocket launcher. Players can only carry one weapon at a time, and all weapons have infinite ammo, eliminating the need to worry about switching between weapons or reloading. Players also have permanent access to an alternate fire mode, which is a melee punch attack. Chroma's pickups spawn upon a player’s death. These pickups, called Death Blossoms, grant a special ability based on the dead player’s rank in the match. The special abilities include invisibility, armor, rapid fire, and poison trails. The first-place player drops the most powerful Death Blossom, with the Blossoms declining in strength going down the rankings. The last place player's Death Blossom does not actually provide an ability at all, but is instead a bomb that chases the killer! |
Responsibilities: Game Designer
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Game Metrics
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Responsibilities: Programmer
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What I Learned
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Game Designer
My primary responsibility during the development of Chroma was as Game Designer. Chroma's features evolved significantly during development, but the core concept remained consistent throughout. I was ultimately responsible for ensuring that all of the changes we made to the design adhered to that core concept, and I am extremely proud of the game that resulted. While Chroma is not perfect, it is a fun game that plays and feels dramatically different from other shooters, and is a fresh and memorable experience for players, which is what our team set out to achieve.
Below are some examples of design changes to Chroma that illustrate the thought process that went into designing Chroma.
Below are some examples of design changes to Chroma that illustrate the thought process that went into designing Chroma.
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Design Changes: Death BlossomsChanges to the design of Death Blossoms included:
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Design Changes: HUD Icons
Chroma's initial design used particle effects on players to communicate the Death Blossoms they were carrying. While players could tell they were carrying something, they often didn't know what ability their Death Blossom granted. The HUD icons communicate the function of the Blossoms in a simple, graphical manner consistent with Chroma's aesthetics.
This screenshot shows a player with the Fire Rate (orange, 2x rate of fire with all weapons), Berserk (green, 3x melee damage), and Super Jump (violet, 2x jump height & distance) Death Blossoms. |
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Design Changes: Relative GravityRelative gravity was something the team wanted, but was initially wish listed due to technical concerns. The team decided to increase its priority once testing showed that it was vital to navigation.
With normal gravity, a player who misses a jump from a ceiling to a nearby platform would fall all the way down to the floor. This player would now be much further away from his intended destination, without the ability to easily try again. In order to mitigate this, players must keep track of their orientation at all times, an undesirable distraction from Chroma's simple gameplay. With relative gravity, the same player would simply land close to his starting point, and could easily try again. This screenshot illustrates the advantages of relative gravity. Without relative gravity, this player could only jump to the mobius strip on the right if the world's positive Z-axis is close to the normal of the strip he's currently standing on (i.e. if he's on a floor). If the world's Z-axis is pointing the opposite direction (i.e. if he's on a ceiling), once he jumps, gravity would pull him "upward", away from his intended destination and toward the world's floor. With relative gravity, he knows he'll be pulled downward relative to his current orientation once he jumps, so he knows he can reach the strip on the right. Thus, relative gravity eliminates the need for players to track their absolute orientation, making navigation painless and intuitive. |