Hello! I'm Cole, one of the developers of Axis Shift. In this Devlog post I will discuss some of the main systems and mechanics that we have been working on over the course of development so far, as well as an overview of one of the game's levels.

Vehicle Transformations

To begin with, let's discuss the game's primary core mechanic: The ability to transform seamlessly between vehicle forms. The game has three distinct vehicles:

• The Tank, which is capable of traversal on land
• The Spaceship, able to maneuver through the sky
• The Submarine, capable of stealthily moving through water

To maintain consistency across the control schemes, it was decided to adopt a simple third-person shooter style input control system, in which the left stick is responsible for manual movement and the right stick is responsible for aiming. The Tank features fully manual movement and strafing, with independent movement for the turret using aiming, while the Spaceship and Submarine use automatic forward movement and manual strafing/ boosting controls for precise movement, following the direction of the player's aiming. The submarine can only move in water, it will remain inactive on land.

Aiming and Shooting

For simplicity, the player always fires directly towards the center of the screen towards a reticle. The camera follows the direction of the player's orientation (Or in the case of the tank, the orientation of the turret), allowing for snappy, intuitive aiming. 

For greater accuracy in aiming, the player is able to lock onto enemies, facing them directly and focusing their fire at them. During this state, movement becomes radial, with the player circling and strafing around the enemy.

In the current version of the game, each vehicle form only has access to one weapon type each

• The Tank uses heavy explosive projectiles with blast AoE damage.
• The Spaceship uses light, rapid-fire projectiles.
• The Submarine uses homing missiles that track enemies that enter a certain radius of them.

Health System

The player utilizes a unique "three health bar" system, which create a mix of manual and automatic healing in the game. Each health bar has an equal amount of health, and will automatically refill over time if the player takes damage. However, if one bar gets fully depleted, it will no longer refill and the player must manually refill it using: 

• Healing stations, scattered around the map
• Health charges, consumables that can be used at any time during the game

Radar Pulse Mechanic

The submarine form will have a unique ability, in which it can scan things within a certain range around it. Enemies and objects of interest such as items, puzzle mechanics or breakable walls will become highlighted in red, even through walls. This allows the player to be able to mark important things and plan actions accordingly.

Level Design

For the prototype version of the game, we designed a test level that introduces the game's various mechanics. In it, players unlock the different vehicles one at a time, with a specific section of the level dedicated to that vehicle form. This allows the player to become familiar with the control style and abilities of each form without it being overwhelming all at once. 

The level makes use of different traversal methods, such as flat terrain for the tank, tunnels to fly through as the spaceship and a large body of water to swim in as the submarine. It utilizes light puzzle solving (i.e. shooting switches to open doors, shooting breakable wall to uncover a path forward, etc.) and basic combat with simple enemies, including non-moving turrets and flying drones. It also has static obstacles, such as mines and asteroids, that the player must avoid. We intend to use this level in the the final game, possibly as an optional tutorial.

Anyways, that's all for my Devlog. Be sure to follow the game's page for updates and future developments regarding Axis Shift. Thanks everyone!