Update: Lyricon - Early Development Movement Shooter

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#1

Hey everyone! It’s been a while since my last update on Lyricon, the movement shooter where you play as a drone. Since then, I’ve made significant progress, fixed some bugs, and added a ton of new features. The game is starting to feel more polished and fun, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement. Let’s get into all the notable changes :slight_smile:.

New Additions

Weapons

  • LG-12 (Laser Gatling 4): A fully automatic rifle that packs a punch, capable of 3-shotting opponents. Perfect for sustained firefights.
  • APV-FLAK 4: A devastating flak cannon that can one-shot drones within range. It’s incredibly satisfying to use but requires precision.
  • ADPW: An automatic version of the APV-FLAK 4. It sacrifices damage for a faster fire rate, making it a great option for close-quarters combat.
  • MIRV-9 Lock-On Missiles: A new lock-on missile system. While not particularly useful on the new map, it’s a fun addition for future maps or modes.

Map

  • A brand-new map designed to showcase all the mechanics in the game! It features targets scattered around for practice and experimentation.

UI Improvements

  • Added damage numbers that pop out of drones when you hit them, as well as kill messages for eliminations.
  • Introduced an altitude meter, health bar, and boost bar for better situational awareness.
  • Removed the velocity and other informational UI elements (for now). The velocity number might make a comeback in the future.
  • Added three mysterious bars in the center of the screen. More on these later…

Movement & Mechanics

  • Recoil Mechanic: Recoil now affects both your camera and movement. Heavier recoil can be used to propel yourself backward, adding a new layer to movement tech.
  • Dash Mechanic: Inspired by Warfork, pressing Z conserves your velocity (plus a small boost) and instantly dashes in the direction you’re looking. Great for tight turns and advanced movement. (Tip: Getting a kill resets one of your dash cooldowns.)
  • Drone Tweaks: Adjusted hitbox size, maximum velocity, and acceleration based on playtesting feedback. Movement feels smoother and more responsive now.

Bug Fixes & Improvements

  • Clipping Issues: While it’s still possible to noclip, it’s much harder to do accidentally and happens less frequently during natural flight.
  • Highlight Visibility: Drone highlights are now more opaque, making it easier to spot other players during playtests.
  • General bug fixes and optimizations to improve stability and performance.

What’s Next?

I’m looking for feedback on a few key areas:

  1. Movement & Shooting Feel: Does it still feel too rigid? I’m aiming for a balance between fluid movement and precise shooting.
  2. UI Design: I’m not a UI designer, so any tips or feedback on making the UI more interactive and visually appealing would be greatly appreciated.
  3. Playtesting: The game is in a playable state for casual battles! Feel free to invite friends and experiment with movement tech or 1v1s. Let me know what you think!

Final Thoughts

Lyricon is slowly but surely shaping up to be the fast-paced, movement-focused shooter I envisioned. While it’s still early in development, I’m excited about the progress and can’t wait to hear your feedback.

If you’re interested in playtesting or just want to chat about the game, feel free to reply here or DM me. Thanks for following along, and I’ll see you in the next update!

PS: I will be away for the weekend starting today, and I’d love to come back to plenty of feedback to work on when I’m home :heart:

Links:

#2

Noticed a bug, when your in the drone sounding thing and reset character, you just stay there indefinitely and never go back to the main menu.

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#3

Drone sounding thing?? Im a little confused if you don’t mind elaborating, thank you for the feeedback though!

#4

The thing your flying in when you play the game.

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#5

Thats weird, it works in studio and it works for me in public build. I’ll definitely take a look though!

#6

Much improved.

I like the addition of the walls and the targets.

But, I think it will lack excitement.

It needs neon. It needs to be a race with targets.

Here is a drone racing music video that might give you some ideas.

Skip to 1:40 where the racing begins:

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#7

I can do something like this! Obviously when i make a textured map, the full artistic vision will be able to be seen.

I think the pvp aspects of this game will also add a lot of excitement besides all possible visual improvements, which is why I want to focus on improving combat before working on visuals too much more.

Thank you for your input!

#8

I like it! The only couple things I would suggest are tighter turning (maybe unlock the rotation given by the A & D keys?) and a counter to the inverted controls when flying upside down. I could also talk about the UI, but I’m sure future updates will smooth it out. I’m excited to see where this project goes!

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#9

Good feedback! I agree with the tighter turning, however I feel like the dash mechanics purpose is to counter the slow turning, and make you think more about how you’re traversing the map. I will experiment with adjusting the turning speed and uncapping the drones roll angle, and possibly host an experimental build that I will post alongside this stable build.

Thanks for your feedback!

#10

Fixed. This was an edge case in the respawning logic of the drone. Thanks for finding it!