Blaster
A multiplayer third-person shooter featuring familiar competitive game modes, a wide range of unique and satisfying weapons, powerful pickups scattered across the detailed map, and fast-paced action. Below is a gameplay preview and an overview of its key features and mechanics.
Gameplay preview
Feature overview
Playable character
The player controls a third-person character who can walk, strafe, jump, crouch, and handle up to two weapons: primary and secondary.
Weapons can be picked up, swapped, and reloaded. Aiming increases their accuracy but slows the character's movement speed. Additionally, players can throw grenades.
Animations use Aim Offsets for the upper body, while the lower body independently manages directional strafing. The two are blended for seamless coordination between movement and aiming.
Item pickups
These pickups provide players with key resources for combat:
Weapons - Found in the environment or dropped by defeated players. Picking one up allows swapping or upgrading your current loadout.
Ammo - Each weapon type has a corresponding ammo pickup, restoring part of its total capacity.
Throwing grenades - Replenishes one grenade, up to the player’s carry limit. Useful for damaging enemies behind cover or controlling tight areas.
Weapon types
There are seven weapon types: Pistol, SMG, Shotgun, Sniper Rifle, Assault Rifle, Rocket Launcher, and Grenade Launcher. The first four are hitscan, while the last three fire physical projectiles.
Each weapon has distinct characteristics, including damage (with varying falloff over distance), fire rate, ammo capacity, reload speed, and scatter when hip-firing or aiming. Projectile weapons have different projectile speeds, and explosive types feature unique area-of-effect ranges.
Weapons also deal bonus damage on headshots, rewarding precision.
Weapon mechanics
Automatic reload makes sure the player's weapon reloads automatically once it's empty and the corresponding ammo is available, allowing them to stay focused on combat.
Smart pickup selects the weapon closest to the player's right hand when multiple are nearby, making pickups more intuitive and responsive.
Collision detection blocks firing if the weapon is obstructed by a wall or other surface, with a sound cue simulating a jammed firearm to provide immediate feedback.
Buff pickups
There are five types of temporary buffs, each enhancing a different aspect of gameplay:
Health - Rapidly restores missing health over a short duration.
Shield - Absorbs incoming damage until depleted or expired.
Jump - Grants a powerful jump to reach higher or previously inaccessible areas.
Speed - Increases movement speed, improving the ability to dodge or reposition.
Damage - Significantly amplifies all damage dealt.
Game modes
Three classic game modes are available, each with a time limit:
Deathmatch - Players compete to get the most eliminations. They spawn randomly across the map, with logic in place to avoid spawning too close to others.
Team Deathmatch - Players are split into two teams and respawn at their respective bases. The team with the most eliminations wins.
Capture The Flag - Teams score by capturing the enemy flag and bringing it to their base. Flag carriers are slowed, making team coordination essential. Players respawn at their team's base.
Match states
Before the first match, players enter a lobby where they wait for enough participants to join. Once the match begins, the game progresses through three states: Warmup, Game, and Cooldown.
During the warmup, players can freely fly around the map to explore or prepare. After that, normal gameplay rules apply based on the selected game mode. When time runs out, a short cooldown follows, during which final scores and winning players or teams are shown.
Once this phase ends, a new match begins automatically with the same settings, without returning to the lobby.
Map design
The map is a large, mirrored environment built with competitive balance in mind. It takes about 40 seconds to cross on foot, similar to many popular shooters. Its layout considers line of sight, cover, verticality, and flow, with carefully placed pickups and respawn points to ensure fair and enjoyable gameplay.
It features physical materials like stone, metal, and wood, with ambient sounds that are dampened indoors. Enclosed areas apply reverb to sounds like gunfire and footsteps. Certain elements, such as pickups or flag areas, adjust depending on the selected game mode.
Combat feedback
Eliminations, assists, and other key events, like capturing the flag, are displayed as notifications to all players, providing a clear overview of the match. They are dynamically constructed based on factors such as damage order, self-eliminations, and whether the event directly involves the player.
Damage numbers appear on hit, offering immediate visual feedback. This is reinforced by layered 2D and 3D audio cues, making dealing and receiving damage more impactful, with headshots being even more pronounced.
The current top player is marked with a crown above their head, making them easily identifiable during matches.
User interface
UI includes a main menu and an in-game menu, allowing easy navigation. Settings let players adjust mouse sensitivity, volume, and toggle post-processing effects. HUD shows essential info like ammo, health, buffs, score, and time limit, keeping players informed without clutter.
Scoreboard updates dynamically and is tailored to each game mode. It displays lobby details and a breakdown of each player's performance.
Overhead widgets show player names and adapt based on distance and line of sight. They fade out when obscured and adjust their appearance to improve readability in different situations.
Lag compensation
Client-side prediction is used to make player actions feel responsive by simulating them immediately on the client and reconciling them later with the server.
Server-side rewind ensures fair hit detection by reconstructing past game states on the server when verifying hits, allowing accurate results even with high latency.
Both methods are carefully tuned to avoid issues like the "hit around the corner" effect, maintaining responsiveness without sacrificing fairness.
Steam integration
The game uses the Steam Online Subsystem to handle multiplayer features, including hosting and joining lobbies. Before hosting, players can customize their experience by selecting the desired game mode and player count, up to a maximum of 16.
Steam overlay is supported, providing access to features such as friends list, chat, and notifications while playing. All multiplayer functionality is implemented as a separate plugin, ensuring a modular approach.