[Game] Morphies Law - a body morphology driven 3D shooter
Hey everybody! For a couple of months I've been working part-time on a
game project. I just finished a teaser for the alpha of the game, so I think
now is a good time to start my own thread here to post occasional
updates. Art-wise it can't keep up with many of the cool things being posted here (my last 3D work was for the hl mod Brainbread more than 10 years ago), but I tried to find a somewhat distinct style given the limited resources. I'd be interested in hearing people's feedback on what could be improved within the limits of my budgetary constraints! 
Some background: Morphies Law is a body morphology driven 3D Shooter. The core game-play mechanic is centered around mass-transfer: each weapon hit transfers mass from the victim's inflicted limb to the corresponding limb of the wielder of the weapon. This has a number of consequences:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXCCYB3Mdlg
Website (with some additional screenshots):
http://www.morphieslaw.com/
Some background: Morphies Law is a body morphology driven 3D Shooter. The core game-play mechanic is centered around mass-transfer: each weapon hit transfers mass from the victim's inflicted limb to the corresponding limb of the wielder of the weapon. This has a number of consequences:
- Skilled players become tall and easy to hit, while beginners shrink until they become difficult targets. Highly skilled players may therefore play with casual players in the same match and both can enjoy the game. Your skill will not be expressed by your kill-death-ratio, but by your body size.
- Different body sizes/proportions require different strategies. A player with tall legs can jump on buildings, small players can hide in tiny holes. The size of every limb has an impact on your abilities and properties. A successful player adapts to his own body-size.
- In team games the team avatar combines the sizes of all team members, and the team with the tallest team avatar wins. Friendly fire does not change your team's avatar size and can therefore be used to implement advanced team tactics. Shift your team mass from one player to the other to get your whole team to an advantageous position. Or designate an offensive player and shrink him in order to make him difficult to hit, then, once he grows by decimating the other team, transfer his mass to your defensive players by showering him with friendly fire. Used the right way, friendly fire can be a crucial part of your team strategy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXCCYB3Mdlg
Website (with some additional screenshots):
http://www.morphieslaw.com/
Replies
The body-morphology system turned out to be a bit more complicated to implement than what I originally thought. After each hit the root bone has to be scaled in order to keep the feet on the ground and prevent "floating", the collision capsule size has to be figured out for both standing and crouching height (without the player doing both), and the eye height for the standing and crouching state has to be calculated. There is still some potential to optimize the system performance-wise, but it works pretty well now.
Is there any particular reason why you chose the salt flats as a setting? For me it doesn't really compliment the mechanics. Could be fun playing in a desert mountainous environment, with giant dudes poking out from behind hills and tiny dudes hiding in caves, or something like that!
About colorful environments, there's plenty in the world
http://mysticplaces.tumblr.com/
http://rhubarbes.com/search/landscapes
http://www.randomghost.com/tagged/landscape
http://flyngdream.tumblr.com/