On Weapon Design in Video Games

Weapons in video games are an important way to immerse yourself in a gaming world. From Super Mario Bros’ fireballs that kill those hammer-throwing tortoises to Doom’s BFG 9000s that tear a spider demon in half, Dane Lyons showed that video game weapons can make you feel like a god.

After introducing you to our game characters' initial conceptualization in the previous DevBlog, it is now time to design the weapons that the characters use. 

First, we researched which weapon categories (Melee, Pistols, Shotguns, Sub-Machine Guns, Rifles, Machine Guns, and so on) to include, as well as which ones are most commonly used by players in FPS games. 

We start with four weapon categories: melee, pistols, shotguns and rifles.

Despite the fact that submachine guns and machine guns seem to be a lot of fun, they are not available in the first proof-of-concept. (Unless the community expresses a strong desire for it.)

The most common melee weapon in most FPS games is a knife, but having a katana instead of a regular knife  is far more fun for our game. A katana is a type of Japanese sword with a curved, single-edged blade, a circular or squared guard, and a long grip that can accommodate two hands. (in case you didn’t know that :) )

Pistols are perhaps the most difficult category to choose a specific model from, because of the many iconic models, such as Glock, Desert Eagle, Beretta and many more. In the end, it came down to a personal team decision to go with the Colt M1911, which was created in the United States of America in 1911, thus the name M1911, and was used in both World Wars.

In contrast to the pistol, the shotgun is an easy choice. The team unanimously decided on a Sawed-Off Shotgun. The only element we debated was whether it should be a double or single barrel shotgun, but we settled on a single barrel. This type of shotgun is famous for its compact size, which makes it easy to carry and ideal for close combat.

Last but not least, we have rifles, which are often the most used weapon in FPS games.  There are two types of rifles, depending on the range. We have assault weapons for medium/long range (M4, AK-47, Steyr AUG, etc.) and sniper rifles for long range (SIG SSG 3000, M24, Steyr SSG, etc).

We thought that the AK-47 was the most recognizable weapon among assault rifles and that it had to be included in the game. As a result, despite the fact that there were several iconic and iconic assault rifles, we chose the AK-47.

We chose the Sniper M24 for the Sniper Rifles. The M24 was the United States' first weapon designed specifically for sniping. It is referred to as a "weapon system" rather than a "weapon" since it comes with a removable telescopic sight as well as a range of tools and attachments.

In the coming stages of development, we focus on importing these weapons into Unity and grant them the attributes and animations needed to interact with the game characters shown in DevBlog 02. 

What is your favorite video game weapon of all-time? Would you opt for the same weapons as us? Which weapon would you like to have available once the game comes out? Share with us through our discord and telegram channels.