Tag-Team Takedown

WARNING: You are playing an early version of the game.

About

Tag-Team Takedown is a 2-D fighting game inspired by Street Fighter and developed in Unity. Players control two characters, a fast striker and a hard-hitting bruiser, and can switch between them at any time; if either one is defeated, the match ends. The game includes Normal mode (a single-round fight against one opponent) and Onslaught mode, where the Player fights three consecutive waves against an enemy that deals more damage each round. It also has a short interactive tutorial that covers movement, attacks, blocking, and character swapping. The first release is planned for PC using WebGL, with possible console ports later.

Trailer

Screenshots

Devlog

This game was created in Unity 6000.0.44f1 and the source code can be viewed here.

Playtests

Alpha

At the alpha stage of Tag Team Takedown we had the movement, player swapping, and basic blocking implemented. The UI was still in progress, and we only had a very basic background. We tested with about 6 players from the class.
Observations:

• Core Mechanics
• Players liked the ability to swap between Speedy and Tanky, but people often forgot whose health bar is for who
• Speedy felt good to control but Tanky was just objectively the better character due to the stats
• Gameplay
• Players often just spammed punch due to no combo system or incentive to vary moves
• Blocking was underused because players didn't feel like it was doing anything
• Planned Changes
• Improve healthbars so active character always shows health at the top of the screen
• Tone down Tanky damage and remove his extra added health
• Improve UI and background art
• Add a tutorial

Beta

By the beta phase we had a start menu with a tutorial, some nice background art, a better UI, and improved the balancing. We invited 7 of our family and friends to test the game. We chose about 3 people who have a history of playing games, 2 who infrequently play, and 2 who never touch games.
Observations:

• Core Mechanics
• Difficulty could use some adjustments as the 3 people who played games before thought it was easy while the others thought it was difficult
• The 3 good players found Speedy more enjoyable and often did better on him, while the less experienced players had to rely on Tanky as a sort of crutch
• They really liked the block animation, as well as the fact that blocking now feels impactful
• Gameplay
• The tutorial was well received
• Button layout was improved but people wanted on-screen inputs for controller
• Planned Changes
• Add on-screen controller inputs
• Add separate Onslaught mode for more experienced players
• Add audio

Final

For the final playtest we got 10 people to test our game from both the class as well as some friends and family. All the testers followed a script of first going into the tutorial then playing 3 rounds of normal mode then playing 1 game of Onslaught mode.
Observations:

• General Impressions
• Players liked the fast paced combat
• Players liked the contrast between Speedy and Tanky
• Onslaught mode was popular, with the increase in difficulty feeling fair as well as the constant fighting making the situation feel chaotic
• Positive Feedback
• Input icons changing based on the device used was very appreciated
• The audio feels responsive and fits the theme
• UI elements like wave counters and health bars are easy to understand
• Character swapping adds a layer of strategy
• Remaining Issues
• The game is still too spammy
• Normal mode is not as popular as Onslaught mode
• Blocking would sometimes not register
• Planned Changes
• Fix blocking sometimes not registering properly
• Fix heavy hit sometimes not registering properly
• Future Features
• Add a stamina system so the Player can't use the same attack more than 3 times in a row
• Add more attack types and combos
• Add an endless mode
• Add mutiplayer support, where 1 player controls Speedy and the other controls Tanky

Postmortem / Game Presentation

Team Reflection

Our team worked really well together throughout the entire quarter. We communicated clearly, split up the work evenly, and consistently met the deadlines we set. One thing we did especially well was having a unified vision for how our game should turn out. This is reflected in our mechanics and game modes, which all blended together smoothly. Because we were all aligned on the vision, we were able to work on different parts of the game independently and merge them together without issues.

If we had another two weeks to develop the game, our three highest priority items would be:

1. Adding a stamina system that prevents using the same move three times in a row, to reduce spamming
2. Adding unique move sets for Speedy and Tanky, to encourage players to use both characters
3. Adding move combos, to create more dynamic and engaging combat

We think that these features would enhance replayability and improve the overall game balance.

Credits

Created by Team 2:

• Farris Abu-Hadba (Onslaught Mode and Balancing)
• Tristan Biesemeier (Player Controller, UI, and Website)
• Kyle Ricks (AI and Tutorial)

References

• RGS Dev's Animated Stick Figure Pack for the character sprites
• Shapeforms Audio's Free SFX Pack for the sound effects
• Craftpix's Game Backgrounds for the main backgrounds
• Kenny's Prototype Textures for the tutorial background
• Julio Cacko's Free Input Prompt Icons for the keyboard and controller button icons
• JIKJI SOFT's Gaegu Font for the main text font
• Tyler Finck's Knewave Font for the title text font
• SVG Repo for the play, fullscreen, GitHub, and email icons