Okay so Ive been thinking about this one for a long while since way back before the weapons models even had concept art, I thought what if we had more melee weapons so the Impact Hammer didnt feel so lonely.
What I like about Melee is what they offer in terms of variety, especially when it comes to up close personal and visceral combat. Games like Shadow Warrior and Dying Light in particular excelled in bringing a FP Melee weapon experience to the player and I think it could really open up new doors for UT without bringing too much of UC over.
Now melee weapons can be the obvious, Swords, Shields, Axes but they really need an Unreal spin on them to really expand on the universe rather than just tacking on existing real world weapons. Im going to outline some of the Unreal ones here, some common weapons that could be considered. I wonder if we could perhaps try to come up with some out of the box functionality for weapons that dont even exist, I posted this in the design forum because I figure we can make the forms follow the design to keep things fast and loose.
Impact Hammer (UT etc)
The closest thing to a mainstay when it comes to Melee weapons in UT, its had variations functionality changes with some of those being the ability to block projectiles and remove powerups.
Shield Gun (UT2kX)
UCs variant on an Impact Hammer, it allowed for some interesting trick jump combos in a similar fashion to TF2s demoman.

Chainsaw (UT)
Chainsaw
Shock Lance (U2)

Razik Blades (U, U2, UC2)

Liandri Hammers (UC2)

Melee Attacks
There could be a Kick or Punch as a quick access melee attack such as other FPS games have with knives or basic blocks/counters against those attacks.
Sword (UC2)
As mentioned on IRC this weapon could be a good addition, what would really set it apart in the Unreal Universe, what kind of spin would make it fit well?
sci-fi-sword
Paladin
Staff (UC2)
Perhaps some form of Nali weapon or a more mystical weapon than scifi as there does need to be some variety but Im really just trying to get the ball rolling for others suggestions.
http://liandri.beyondunreal.com/Melee_weapons
In the early days I was considering that weapons could have both a melee function and a normal weapon attack, like a Ripper could double as a chainsaw for instance and the Shock rifle could have a bayonet type attachment. I liked this idea but Im not sure its viable as it makes every weapon good at closer ranges without a real punishment for it where having seperate melee weapons means there can be a unique switch time for a melee which helps to make it balanced.
My main inspiration for posting this here now instead of earlier was when I saw this:
Doom on Youtube
I couldnt help but notice how up close and personal it was and I felt that perhaps this is what this UT needs more of, something that Bulletstorm and Gears both did rather well and not alot of FP games outside of more scripted games approach. I would love to see this kind of personal touch to finishers and that kind of thing in UT, especially in regards to melee as it could give you that real satisfaction of getting revenge on that hard to kill player you been chasing all match. Battlefield has the DogTags you can snatch and I rekon UT could bring it
I would really like to hear peoples thoughts on adding more melee weapons to UT on a whole and trying to build a nice small Unreal weapon rack that can appeal to a wider variety of players whilst still pleasing the fans of UT
What I like about Melee is what they offer in terms of variety, especially when it comes to up close personal and visceral combat. Games like Shadow Warrior and Dying Light in particular excelled in bringing a FP Melee weapon experience to the player and I think it could really open up new doors for UT without bringing too much of UC over.
Now melee weapons can be the obvious, Swords, Shields, Axes but they really need an Unreal spin on them to really expand on the universe rather than just tacking on existing real world weapons. Im going to outline some of the Unreal ones here, some common weapons that could be considered. I wonder if we could perhaps try to come up with some out of the box functionality for weapons that dont even exist, I posted this in the design forum because I figure we can make the forms follow the design to keep things fast and loose.
Impact Hammer (UT etc)
The closest thing to a mainstay when it comes to Melee weapons in UT, its had variations functionality changes with some of those being the ability to block projectiles and remove powerups.
Shield Gun (UT2kX)
UCs variant on an Impact Hammer, it allowed for some interesting trick jump combos in a similar fashion to TF2s demoman.

Chainsaw (UT)
Chainsaw
Shock Lance (U2)

Razik Blades (U, U2, UC2)

Liandri Hammers (UC2)

Melee Attacks
There could be a Kick or Punch as a quick access melee attack such as other FPS games have with knives or basic blocks/counters against those attacks.
Sword (UC2)
As mentioned on IRC this weapon could be a good addition, what would really set it apart in the Unreal Universe, what kind of spin would make it fit well?
sci-fi-sword
Paladin
Staff (UC2)
Perhaps some form of Nali weapon or a more mystical weapon than scifi as there does need to be some variety but Im really just trying to get the ball rolling for others suggestions.
http://liandri.beyondunreal.com/Melee_weapons
In the early days I was considering that weapons could have both a melee function and a normal weapon attack, like a Ripper could double as a chainsaw for instance and the Shock rifle could have a bayonet type attachment. I liked this idea but Im not sure its viable as it makes every weapon good at closer ranges without a real punishment for it where having seperate melee weapons means there can be a unique switch time for a melee which helps to make it balanced.
My main inspiration for posting this here now instead of earlier was when I saw this:
Doom on Youtube
I couldnt help but notice how up close and personal it was and I felt that perhaps this is what this UT needs more of, something that Bulletstorm and Gears both did rather well and not alot of FP games outside of more scripted games approach. I would love to see this kind of personal touch to finishers and that kind of thing in UT, especially in regards to melee as it could give you that real satisfaction of getting revenge on that hard to kill player you been chasing all match. Battlefield has the DogTags you can snatch and I rekon UT could bring it

I would really like to hear peoples thoughts on adding more melee weapons to UT on a whole and trying to build a nice small Unreal weapon rack that can appeal to a wider variety of players whilst still pleasing the fans of UT

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