That Beaver Game

thutson3876

Example of base gameplay.

That Beaver Game is a destruction simulator with fast-paced movement. You may start with trees (or rocks), but why stop there? With a few powerups and ample speed, a building is no match for a beaver!

The player can dash, wall-run, slam, and gnaw their way through the city, attempting to rack up as many points as they can within the time limit.

Development Tasks

  • Movement System
  • Miscellaneous Polish
  • Destruction System
  • Networked Multiplayer

Movement System

Example of player parkour.

The player can dash for a burst of speed, regaining a use of it when they touch the ground or a wall. It directly sets their velocity, allowing a player to readjust from any movement mistakes.

When wall-running, the player has reduced gravity and is pulled slightly towards the wall to ensure a snappy feel. Additionally, their speed is increased to incentivize utilizing the mechanic while exploring the city.

The player can wall-run on anything; even the scattered pieces of a building that once stood tall!

Destruction System

Example of building destruction. The smaller buildings are easy to destroy with a little speed, but the larger building doesn’t fall.

Different objects require different levels of force to destroy. The more speed the beaver has, the more force behind their bite. Powerups also aid in destructive power in-case the player struggles with the fast-paced movement.

Example of player using slam to destroy a building, and then breakdancing in celebration.

The destruction system itself is comprised of an open-source package called OpenFacture. However, in order to incorporate it into the gameplay to the desired degree, some modifications were needed.

Initially, the package’s scripts couldn’t communicate with any of the project’s. To solve this, the scripts were reorganized, and grouped based on assembly definition requirements. This not only allowed the package scripts to be accessed at runtime, but also greatly improved the recompile speed whenever changes to the codebase were made.

Miscellaneous Polish

Example of object fractures shrinking out of existence.

To improve performance, fractures of objects must be disposed of after some time. In order to make this process appear less jarring, the pieces shrink out of existence.

Example of player wall-running to build speed, showcasing speed lines and camera FOV before slowing down.

Since the player’s movement is so integral to the gameplay, it was important to make them truly feel their speed. This was accomplished by using speed lines and scaling camera FOV that both increase in intensity as the player gains speed.

Multiplayer Networking

Showcase of two players playing in a multiplayer lobby.

After initial production of the game was finished, I wanted to see what chaos a colony of beavers could accomplish. So, as a spin-off project, I rewrote the entire codebase to function using Peer-to-Peer networking, where a host can invite others to their lobby through Steam.