Toy Fighter - Devlog #2 : Whacking players over the internet

Introduction

I guess bi-weekly it is! Welcome back to my devlog for the game I am developing in Unreal Engine 5, if you didn't read the previous post, I'm currently working on an online and local PvP brawler where different action figures will fight it out with various stationery, toy weapons and environmental hazards. This past couple weeks have been a bit slower as I spent some time sorting some personal stuff out, however some good progress has been made in the framework of the project, mostly surrounding networking.

Current Progress

So this week has been mostly focused on getting the networking for the combat to a point where it's playable and testable, for any of the very few that may have played the game jam game I linked last post, you'll notice that the networking and hit detection was basically non-existent (I'll blame this on my insane rush to get something uploaded at the end of the jam). As such the first thing I had to tackle was making sure that the networking was working in every instance, and would also be relatively tamper proof down the line. This involved setting up a few RPCs and RepNotifys and making sure damage was being applied server side, as things progress some of this may change and more elements may be moved to RepNotifys if the situation is applicable as they are more performant in a lot of cases. I've also been progressing with the combat system itself, adding a block ability, this will be expanded with a stamina that will mean players can't just turtle the whole time and also a window to parry that will stun the attacking player (a version of this is already in but needs to be moved to a small window to emphasise the skill and payoff of the ability). I've also begun working on a player model base that will be able to modified with different customisation options, allowing players to really show off their action figures.

Next Steps

From here I'll be testing the networking solution with the people I am working on the game with, making sure that the base of it is stable and allows for a full gameplay loop, from there I will spend some time refining the more major issues with the combat to get it to a point where more accurate testing of game feel can be done. I'll also be spending more time getting the model ready for it to be put into the game. Besides this I will be getting ranged combat into the game so that more testing can be done with a full combat loop. As I said in the last post, these will probably be bi-weekly and a bit shorter than the first, as I get to some of the more interesting parts of the game I will be posting gameplay clips on my Bluesky profile so follow me there if you haven't!

Thanks for reading and I'll see you next time.