Project RivalBawlz: a nerf-inspired class mod

[Ehibika]

Project rivalbawlz is a work in progress “class” mod with a theme around nerf-like soft projectile blasters, weapons are largely characterized by it’s ammo of choice in terms of firing styles, shot trajectories, and ammo capacities. and all shots fired can be picked back up and reconstituted into your supply.

drawing from splatoon, each blaster is paired with a secondary tool and a special ability, secondary tools offer complimentary functions to the main weapon, such as bombs or inflatable blockades for cover.Specials on the otherhand are high impact but limited use tools and abilities that with proper use, can promote or stop pushes in gameplay.

Currently there are 4 ammo classes with more to come in the future, details on each and the nature of their blasters are below

Ammo Types:

Balls:

Central to the world of soft projectile combat. ball blasters are weapons characterized by their speed. ball blasters are fast firing and quick to reload, and ball rounds come out fast and ricochet off walls, making these blasters excel at close range engagements.

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ball rounds have a high initial velocity but lose speed quickly, thus limiting their range. however their high initial velocity makes them especially hard to dodge.

ball rounds fly straight for a few frames before they begin to slow down and fall.

blasters that use ball rounds can reload quickly, and often have capacities on the high side thanks to the ammo type working within hoppers.

Ball rounds take 1 reserve round per reloaded round.

Darts:
Darts hit hard and reach far, making blasters of this ammo type ideal for long range skirmishes.

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Darts have more reach than ball round as they fly straight for longer and do not lose velocity nearly as quickly. darts do not bounce off walls however, and will begin to tumble and plummet to the ground once they exceed their effective range.

darts also have very high damage values, which can allow them to take down already damaged targets in fewer hits than other blasters. dart blasters however are slower to reload compared to most blasters, and don’t usually have high capacities.

Dart rounds take 2 reserve rounds per reloaded round.

Disks:
approaching aerodynamics in a different way than most ammo types, darts glide through the air like frisbees and can bounce off walls without any loss in velocity! highly adept for trickshots!

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Disks have very low flight velocities but stay in the air much longer than other ammo types, disks also can bounce off walls without any loss in speed. while they technically have more range then dart blasters, they are typically easier to dodge at longer ranges. the slow projectile speed can actually be utilized to create curtain fire, making blasters of this type great for support.

Shot damage is quite low however, so it’s best to utilize the ammo’s properties to hit targets at odd angles rather than engage them head on. Disk blasters typically have high ammo capacities but moderate reload speeds.

Disk rounds take 1 reserve round per reloaded round.

Arrows:
When it comes to long distance pressure, nothing comes close to the capabilities of arrows. harness the ancient power of archery to deliver the hits at ranges no other blaster can contest with!

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arrow blasters fill the backlines sniper role, delivering precise and fatal shots at long ranges. fully charged arrow rounds fly incredibly fast and can take out targets in one hit within the weapon’s effective range. while typically slow firing, bow-style arrow blasters have the option of launching quick arrows that fly in an arc for moderate damage.

arrows are some of the most expensive ammo types, taking 5 rounds per arrow. and arrow blasters don’t have internal capacities, taking ammo directly from your reservoir instead.

Blasters:

*note, beta imagery*

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Coda

Ammo type: ball
Capacity: 10

The baseline blaster in the lineup, the coda is a well rounded, spring powered, single shot blaster that can work in a wide variety of combat situations

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Ammo type: ball
Capacity: 30

The allegro is a rapid, flywheel blaster with a high capacity hopper. built for aggressive play, this blaster can down targets quickly with a rapid barrage of ball rounds, and can reload quickly for nonstop assault.

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Ammo type: dart
Capacity: 16

If precision and power is what you're looking for, the Mark16 won't disappoint. this high impact springer can deliver in the hands of a good marksman.

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Ammo type: dart
Capacity: 22

A blaster for those that like options. the turbo 22 is a semi-auto flywheel blaster that can engage full auto when the trigger is held for a moment. players with a good sense of trigger discipline will get mileage out of this blaster.

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Ammo type: disc
Capacity: 30

an intricate disc blaster that can strike foes from unexpected angles.

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Ammo type: disc
Capacity: 30

The vollition can overwhelm foes with a wave of disk rounds, holding them back with a wall of foam or swarming them with shots coming at them from multiple angles.

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Ammo type: arrow
Direct feed

the premier backlines weapon, hold the fort down and shut down trespassers with powerful arrow shots! fire them out quick or draw the bow for full power!

SubWeapons:

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Scatterbomb
Cost: 35 rounds

Scatterbombs are explosives that go off after a short delay, eliminating nearby targets and flushing areas with bouncing rounds.

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Minibomb
Cost: 20 rounds

a smaller, impact explosive with concussive properties, can be used to jostle foes or propel yourself onto higher positions.

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Blockade
cost:25 rounds

deploy an inflatable blockade for temporary cover, the blockade can be pushed. players can also jump onto it and use it to reach higher places.

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Time Snare
Cost: 25

deploy a device that creates a warped time field that slows all enemies inside it so long as they remain within it.

Specials:

*under construction

Design and in depth mechanics

this mod draws a lot from splatoon in terms of combat mechanics and weapon/class design, you might wonder exactly how that is given the lack of painting and swimming, well it’s for the following reasons:

first off, all weapons in the game have a hard set maximum range, shots can only travel so far and once your target is far away, hitting them is virtually impossible. a big part of combat is about working out how to get to an ideal range with your toolset relative to your given opponent. some kits make it easier for a weapon to approach another opponent while others help to keep opponents further away from you.

there’s also a inverse correlation with range and mobility. as shorter ranged weapons tend to have more freedom of movement both in and out of combat, whereas longer ranged weapons tend to be more stationary.

there are more factors to a weapon that go into it’s style of play and situation requirements beyond just how far it can shoot and how mobile it is, all of those factors include:

Time to kill (TTK)
a combination of shot power, rate of fire, and the charge up/windup time that happens at the pull of a trigger, essentially how quickly can a weapon eliminate a target at a moment’s notice. weapons with shorter TTK’s are more readily lethal, even when unprepared.

Shot power
how much a single projectile does per hit. this denotes the break points at which the number of shots it would take to eliminate a previously wounded player is lowered. if one blaster does 50 per shot and another 80, both are a 2 hit kill, however against an opponent that has sustained minor damage from another source, they’d be more at risk of being one-shotted by the 80 damage blaster, whereas the 50 damage blaster still needs to land 2 shots at least.

Mobility
a blanket term to describe how much movement this weapon allows the wielder. each weapon has a base movement speed, while some also have lower speeds when in a firing position (typically an automatic or charge based blaster)

Ammo Efficiency
how this blaster handles a players ammo supply. this includes factors such as capacity, ammo cost (decided on it’s ammo class) and reload speed but is also influence by things like rate of fire and shot power. these factors dictate how active a weapon can be, how much downtime it experiences, and how readily it can use it’s subweapon. weapons with high capacity and fast reloading (common with ball blasters as they often use hoppers) can sustain action for long periods of time with few downtimes. weapons with a higher ammo demand (darts and arrows) will have to be more choosy with their actions given the situation, as recklessly firing will leave them dry on ammo sooner.

Effective range
This covers not only how far a weapon’s shots travel, but how quickly and precisely they do. ball rounds travel fast and often have tight groupings but lose velocity and fall faster than other rounds, disks can travel further than most ammo types but are slow and easy to dodge at long distances. darts have great reach and travel time, however some dart blasters can have a lot of shot deviation, meaning that once they are so far from a target, their chances of hitting them diminish.

These five main factors are what primarily how a weapon is best used and where, there are even more factors such as the signature characteristics of the ammo type but those details can be touched on at another time.

Another area where this mod draws from splatoon is in kit design. classes in splatoon are primary weapons with pre designated loadouts composed of isolated tools that all work in tandem with each other. a splat bomb was a splat bomb and a suction bomb was a suction bomb. however, the pairing of one subweapon or another radically changed the nature of that weapon. consider the tentatek and kensa variants of the splattershot in splatoon2. the tentatek’s splat bomb makes the weapon far more adept at combat with the ability to throw a fast acting grenade to eliminate or pressure threats into the weapon’s effective range. the suction bomb on the kensa splatter shot gives it more zoning power by being able to throw a sticky bomb with a large time delay and blast radius, however this also makes the weapon more passive as the ink demand for the suction bomb means you cannot shoot as liberally, and suction bombs themselves aren’t quite as good in direct combat due to their delay.

I’ve always loved this design choice for it’s practicality, consistency, and it’s ability to create a variety of play options without the need to create a lot of new content, which is all good for a one man project meant to be a used as a vehicle for more gamemodes.