The Ninja Ducks is a multiplayer game I built with a team in 2022. The goal of the game is to race to the finish line of a given level as many times as possible before the time expires. However, every player can set traps to limit the number of times their competitors can reach the finish line. Each level additionally has obstacles to interrupt the players like rising water and trap doors.
Gameplay
When a race starts, every player starts in the same place. A camera flyover then shows the entire level so players know where the finish line is. The primary goal is to finish the level the most times before time expires. Every time a player reaches the finish line successfully, they respawn at the start line to race the level again.
At the beginning, every player has 3 traps they can spawn. They can set these traps any time they reach the finish line or fall in the water (before being sent back to the start line). There are also collectables in each level that award players additional traps to place. Players can select any of the following traps when they get an opportunity to place one.
- Static platform – A non-moving, stable horizontal platform that floats in air.
- Static wall – A non-moving, stable vertical platform that floats in air. Players can scale walls, but this slows them down.
- Moving platform – Similar to the static platform, but it slides either left and right or back and forth.
- Bouncy ball – Causes the player to ricochet when either jumped on or collided into.
- Duck trap – An AI trap that can be targeted to a specific player. Once selected, the ducks will dive bomb that player to try to knock them into the water.
- Rubber duck ballista – An automated turret that fires at and stuns nearby players (including you).
- Deletion – This “trap” allows a player to spend a trap resource to delete a previously placed trap.
My Game Elements
We all built the game together, so many of the elements have contributions from multiple members of the team. However, I was the primary one who developed the following game elements.
- Base level design (“Nice Piers“)
- Ramp triggers / falling
- Big red button that controls the trap door
- Water – scripted the low-poly water animation and logic for players falling into the water
- Tsumani – rising water experience
- Finish line – scripted logic for finishing a level
- Timer and player badge UI, including countdown, trap counter, and animations
A trailer of the game is provided below that shows many of the game elements in action.
Play the Game
A live version of the game can be played here. Please note this game is no longer actively maintained, so bugs may exist if you’re accessing this long after this publishing. Additionally, the game was primarily built for game controllers or native builds on the computer with keyboards. Playing on the web with a keyboard / mouse was not the original design, so additional gameplay shortcomings may be present.