Making Unique Combat

While Testing Playground is a sandbox of various creations Rin and I make, I wanted to create a foundation that allows me to be creative with anything I make in the future, especially those that are very conditional. In addition, the idea of making a combat system that felt very dynamic was always something I've always wanted to attempt and I'd say that I did a decent job. To make the place stand out from other beat-em-up roleplays on ROBLOX, I wanted to utilize the environment and real-world thinking to solve problems and succeed in taking someone down or escaping with your life.

Although it wasn't the first thing I made, the first thing I want to talk about is the status system. In Testing Playground, you may find yourself with a notifier telling you that you're wet or hotter than usual. These little changes to your avatar affect the way your character acts and how other entities may interact with you. One of these status effects is wetness. In Testing Playground, the wetter you are, the darker your clothes become. Once you reach 70% wetness, your stamina regenerates more slowly and the speed you sprint at is 60% slower. Some sources of wetness include fire hydrants, swimming in the ocean, standing in a fountain, and standing in the rain. In the future, wetness will allow players to be electrocuted or extinguish burning fires.

Towels to be added 2025

Another status effect you can find yourself having is temperature. Temperature measures the change in heat or coolness of the player. When higher, the player is hotter than usual while conversely, negative numbers indicate how cold they are. The player's temperature could change from eating warm foods or drinking cold beverages, being near water sources, or experiencing friction. While extreme temperature change currently doesn't affect the player, it lays the infrastructure for future stands such as Sheer Heart Attack or The Grateful Dead.

One major source of wetness is rain. Every two minutes, the game has a 5% chance of summoning rain if it hasn't been summoned yet. The game turns grayer for one minute then the rain begins to pour for 6-7 minutes. Once the rain begins to fall, the sounds of raindrops fill the player's audio. If the player is underneath something, the sound becomes a bit more muffled. If you're not underneath something, you begin to get wetter and wetter so if you value being able to run fast and take a breather, you might want to invest in an umbrella. 

Singing to be added 2029

In addition to rain, swimming almost instantaneously grants the player complete wetness. Not only that, but while you stay in the water, your stamina begins to deplete at a steady rate; you can't swim forever without getting tired, you know? If the player mismanages their stamina, they'll find themselves floating to the surface unable to move. If the player attempts to dive into the water and hide from someone, they'll discover they possess a small reserve of oxygen. Once that depletes, their health begins to drain. With both of these mechanics together, one must be very careful with how they address being in the water.

Cardio training to be added 2049

Lastly, the game has a day and night cycle that's a bit different than most other games. In Testing Playground, when the game turns to night, the environment becomes noticeably darker. Often when the game turns to night, first-time players note that the game is too dark and needs to be fixed while others who are familiar with the game will say night turns Testing Playground into a totally different game. When the game turns to night, light is absolutely crucial when it comes to finding a player you're chasing or hiding from one chasing you. In addition to making the game dark, player nametags only appear when you are directly in front of them, making it easier for a player to hide in the darkness. Many of the game's lights are on at night however most of the light sources in the game are destructible, allowing the player to manipulate the light in the game.

Nightvision to be added 2186

All of these elements mesh together to allow the players to utilize what's nearby in order to give them an advantage. I wanted the players to feel smart for knowing what's nearby or for being familiar with the various interactions in the game. For example, knowing there's a window on the second floor of the music shop can come in handy if you're being chased by someone, so long as you have something to break the window. The game also stunts your stamina and health regeneration when the player's health is very low, allowing clever players to recognize that their wounded target couldn't have gotten far, just like you see on TV. When designing a game, it's common knowledge that heavy consequences out of a player's control can be very frustrating to those playing it, therefore, conversely putting a lot into the player's hands gives a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment when a player's plan works. The freedom of the game coupled with the game's forgiving death mechanics makes for a relaxed and light-hearted PvP experience that I hope to expand in the future.

Unclean Endeavors Completed At a Bargain

Before I continue writing, I want to advise that the following article is a spoiler for the manga JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Steel Ball Run. If you are anticipating reading the manga or plan on waiting until the anime adaptation is curated, you may want to skip this article. For those who have already read the manga, or if you don't plan to, feel free to continue reading. It's important to know that my game does contain these tools and you are susceptible to spoilers. It's also important to note that the spoilers are mostly Stand abilities; there are very few spoilers in terms of plot.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Steel Ball Run Spoilers follow!

Back in the Rhythm

It's been quite a while. It really has. I haven't really been anywhere, I just wasn't as active in the ROBLOX community. After all that had happened, I believed it to be best to not be so involved in the social space of others so now I prefer to keep to myself and immediate communities I'm personally involved in. In addition, I haven't really had a need to develop or create small projects so I  tried to make a game myself (which I didn't complete, but that's for another time). Being a core part of the MeepCity development team, I didn't have an urgency to produce a new game so I decided to slowly work on my own larger projects.

After several months, maybe even years, I've decided to go back to my roots and have made a testing playground for me to display all my new creations. At the moment, there is only one tool based on a stand from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, which I've been really into for the past 3 years. I will most likely be recreating a lot of stands from JoJo but in my own style. When developers recreate the abilities of stands from JoJo, it's often for the sake of a combat oriented game and not for the purpose of faithfully recreating the power. Considering this new place is simply a sandbox, I don't have to worry too much about making each stand viable since not all stands in JoJo are equal; I don't see how I could make Catch The Rainbow be on the same level as Star Platinum or White Album but I don't want people running around one shotting people with Purple Haze.

I brought them back!

Another topic I would like to address is the Project Fight Club remake. It's finished, sorta. There's a lot of behind the scenes technicalities that need to be addressed to be considered complete. There's also no proper map rotation despite there being 4 maps and of course probably a hurricane of bugs to deal with along with hastily made item descriptions riddled with grammatical errors. Despite all the obstacles, however, I will most likely publish the game in its current state as is until I decided to complete it. I'll address any overwhelming changes that need to be made to the game like an update breaking the game or something in the game completely ruining the experience. In terms of new content: don't expect it often. I might work on it every month or so but that's the most I'll do for now. The new version of PFC has a new sword but that's all I can recall. There are several unfinished weapons in the game's files but they're not in a playable state. The game has revamped effects, animations, and some sound changes along with a new UI so there's that as well.

Looked pretty good before I stopped.

As this post comes to an end, I want to reiterate that I'm not really working on anything big right now in terms of personal projects, my primary work is, and always will be, MeepCity. Despite that, I will always have a hunger for creating tools, models, and scripts and I have the desire to satiate my starvation. Hope to see you soon.