Gameplay

Rubble Rumble is a 2D 1v1 fighting game where players must knock their opponent off the platform. Hitting the opponent with an attack knocks them back and increases the knockback they will take from subsequent attacks. Players have three directional attacks and a ground pound. They can jump and fastfall, as well as dash in 8 directions, which makes them invincible for a brief moment. Dashing consumes 1 of 3 dash charges which regenerates after a few seconds.

Unlike a traditional platform fighter, this game isn't based on landing long combos or making last minute recoveries after getting knocked away from the plaform. Here, the arena is a lot tighter and a few hits are usually enough to make the opponent fall. The core of Rubble Rumble is to manage to land those few hits. Players have very potent movement and dodge capabilities, but they are limited by charges which have a cooldown. So players must find ways to trick their opponent into using up all their dash charges while conserving theirs.

Experience Intentions

When it comes to the played experience of Rubble Rumble, we wanted to focus on the bait and feints aspect of fighting games where players try predict their opponent's moves and push them to make a mistake while making their own actions hard to predict. Additionally, we wanted to create something intense and quick, which is why we made the arena relatively tight with large player and attack hitboxes, and fast movement.

Moreover, the visuals were meant to translate the pace of the game while also adding a more light-hearted and mischievous atmosphere. We also liked the idea of taking golems, beings usually depicted as slow and bulky due to their mineral nature and give them lighter builds with dynamic curved shapes while keeping the impact of stone and punchy FX. The large golem in the background is central to the feel of the game, we found that making combat overseen by this benevolent giant would make the fight feel more friendly and defeats less frustrating.

Rubble Rumble was my first time working on a video game. It developped as a student project by a team of 3 in 4 months using Construct 3. The aim of the project was to make a fighting game, we had to analyse the fundamentals of fighting games and prove our understanding of them by replicating them.

First and foremost my role was to handle all the visuals. I designed and drew the sprites for the characters, backgrounds, VFX, interface as well as the logo. I also did all the animations.

I also contributed to the game design of Rubble Rumble: I designed the dash system, the knockback system and some of the attacks, among other things.

Finally, I lended a few hands on the programming, and, even though it's really not my specialty, I had to improvise myself sound designer as we didn't have one in the team.

The team

Matthieu Alle