Gameplay Mechanics

“90% of what is considered "impossible" is, in fact, possible. The other 10% will become possible with the passage of time & technology.” - Hideo Kojima

The hardest part about writing this article was trying to figure out how to not come off as arrogant. Best practices for introducing your expertise in any field are to establish your qualifications and the length of time in that field. If I wanted to make an argument from a position of authority in the field of Software Engineering, I would say, “I’ve been a Software Engineer for 13 years…”, then go on to explain my unique position on a topic relating to Software Engineering. For this particular article, I wanted to establish my credentials as such, “Hi, I’ve been playing video games all my life, and I’m probably the best to ever do it! In a perfect world, a statue would be created in my honor to acknowledge my gameplay prowess”… you see how arrogant that sounds? I mean, it’s true, but I could’ve said it more nicely. I felt like I needed proof, so I attached a video of my latest run in a game I’m addicted to because of how difficult it is. The game is called Returnal on the PlayStation 5, and I’m playing the Ascension DLC called Tower of Sisyphus. The game is known as one of the hardest games to ever be created, and I beat it twice… I think that makes me an expert. I’m a hardcore gamer, and I have to beat video games. I don’t play video games to have fun ( like an amateur), I play them strictly for the 10-second dopamine rush I get after spending 100 hours trying to beat a game completely and thoroughly! Since this year began, I beat Ghost Of Tsushima including the DLC, Cyberpunk 2077 the fixed version, I’m halfway done with Horizon: Forbidden West ( I love that game ), and of course I’m trying to beat the unbeatable, Returnal: Tower Of Sisyphus. Then I can start Elden Ring. This leads me to the topic of this article, Gameplay mechanics in the metaverse.

I’m not impressed. The metaverse is a hyped-up video game world, but when I play games in the metaverse, something is missing. Maybe I just haven’t found the right game yet. Maybe the type of interface doesn’t lend itself well to the type of video games I find enjoyable. I don’t know, but in this article, we will find out. Returnal, in my opinion, is the gold standard for gameplay mechanics. The gameplay loop doesn’t get boring, there are various enemy types with different attack patterns, the weapons are creative and fun to use, and the character movement is swift and reactive. It’s lacking on the story side, but man is it fun. I still haven’t found this quality of gameplay in the metaverse. As an expert in the field of gameplay, this article will break down what makes a game great and what can be done in the metaverse to improve gameplay quality. Meta, the supposed leader of the metaverse, recently released a screenshot of their virtual world and the internet is not impressed. Big Tech just doesn’t understand gameplay mechanics. So based on Returnal alone, because I’ve been playing it non-stop, and its gameplay mechanics are super fresh in my mind, my expert opinion will enlighten everyone on how the metaverse can become not… dull. I know the VR enthusiast keep complaining about my metaverse criticisms, but it actually sucks right now. If we don’t point out these issues, it will never get better. No one wants the metaverse to work more than I do, but to get there, we have to put in work to make it better. By the way, Mark Zuckerberg, I know you were recently on Joe Rogan’s podcast, but he’s not a nerd. He doesn’t know anything about the metaverse or anything that doesn’t involve an arm bar. Come on the Medallion XLN podcast, we’ll talk about Cambria, React, how your scrappy little start up took on the big guys, all that cool stuff.

That ain’t it, Boss

So the first thing we have to understand about gameplay mechanics is the different kinds of camera modes. There are first-person modes suitable for first-person shooters. These games create the illusion that the player sees through the eyes of the character model, with only a portion of the gun in view. Third-person games display the entire character model with the camera over the shoulder. The default camera mode for the metaverse is first person. The next key component of any good game is the movement set. The character needs to be able to walk, sprint, jump, and dash. The dash movement set is important for dodging incoming attacks. Dashes can be interchangeable with rolls or dives. The above gameplay loop featured in the video demonstrates how I use timed dash attacks to avoid incoming projectiles at the last moment, as well as to quickly close the distance between the player and the enemy. Dashes are a must-have for a fun gameplay loop. I haven’t played any metaverse games with a fun movement cycle, If there are, let me know, and I’ll check it out. Paired with movement are the attack inputs. The main character needs a light attack, a heavy attack, and a special attack. The way Returnal applies these attack modes is based on the weapons acquired throughout gameplay. The light attack is the standard fire mode, each weapon comes with a powerful special attack with a 60-second cooldown, and the heavy attack is a melee slash with her sword. Most games have a variation of these abilities. Traversal is another key gameplay mechanic, that allows the player to zip from one side of the arena to another. This allows the player to avoid enemy projectiles or escape the enemy barrage. These traversal points are usually triggered by a quicktime event that prompts the player to press a button when facing the traversal point. Enemy attack patterns leave much to be desired in the metaverse. Returnal plays like a bullet hell game, so the objective is avoiding a variation of incoming projectiles. In Ghost of Tsushima, the enemy attack pattern is a lot slower and rushing in will result in a quick game over screen. Including a wide variety of enemy types is incredibly important to avoid boring and repetitive gameplay. I don’t think any game does this better than Horizon: Forbidden West, which includes a wide array of various enemy types that require increased skill sets (I’m still not strong enough to kill a Thunder Jaw after 50 hours of gameplay, those things are tough ). Finally, great games break up the action with puzzles to solve.

This game is so much fun, but it will break you.

The reason I think that Meta’s metaverse looks like that is because ( I’m assuming ), they are using React Three Fiber, which is Three.js wrapped in a React web development library. As someone who was trying to build Medallion XLN’s metaverse with React Fiber, it doesn’t work for what I want. The movement isn’t fluid, the graphics are too graphicy ( I know that’s not a word). It’s too static, so I switched over to an actual game engine that provides the basic controls that I want out of the box. The Unreal Game Engine provides amazing 3D assets out of the box with an amazing meta human feature that provides realistic human models, I think you guys are going to like what I have planned for our metaverse. Guys, get excited about Medallion XLN, so I can release this ICO already. Our project will be the best one on the market, by far. Spread the word and let’s get hyped! Medallion XLN’s metaverse will be next level, but I can’t release it if we don’t have some moderate to high levels of excitement. The Strawberry Gummi and Sour Gummi avatars are next level. Generated with DALL-E 2 and Mid Journey, each has a Heavy, Light and Special Attacks, Jump and Dash movements.

Strawberry Gummi 5

Space Princess from the Andromeda Galactic Alliance is on a journey 50 light years away from her home planet. She is equipped with a lightsaber and a laser projectile weapon that chances fire rate based on interface selection. She has the ability to double jump and double dash. Heavy attacks fire a supercharged laser that takes 6 seconds to load. Light attack fires weapon based on rate selected. (Of course she was inspired by Returnal ( I love that game))

Species: Humanoid

Class: Warrior Princess

Sour Gummi 6

Sour Gummi 6 is the owner of several Saloons in the Great American Wildlife parks. She is known to get wild if anyone interrupts the economic flow in her place of business. She uses her tremendous strength to crush her enemies. Being extremely heavy, her jumps barely leave the ground. Dash are quick ducks. Heavy attack lunge at her enemy in a take-down tackle. Light Attack grabs and body slams the enemy.

Species: American Grizzly Bear

Class: Wrestler

Show the Gummi Bear collection some love. I think the Gummi Bear collection can totally take down BAYC. We also have the Owl Bludgeon Staff Loot avatars coming as well. I don’t know what else you guys can ask for? I have plans that will make people’s brains explode. Meta, if that’s the best you got, you guys should change your name to Beta. Medallion XLN is probably going to be the biggest project of all time. It could become a top ten ERC20 token, will our community support us in the ICO? Follow me on twitch and maybe you can witness one of my amazing playthroughs.

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