The Overmare Studios is proud to present the very first glimpse of our gameplay with telekinesis!
When the design team first started working on how telekinesis worked, we planned on going with a more traditional ‘Gravity Gun’ style system from Half Life 2. The player would point at a item or character, click the cast button, then the object/character would be brought in front of the player where they could swing it around like a flail or press the cast button again and send it flying forward. This system seemed like the easiest and simplest to design. However, the more time we spent researching telekinesis from the show, the story, and even other games, we realised that there was nothing to make it stand out from the hundreds of other projectile spells. So we scraped the Gravity Gun system and started on an entirely new system.
After multiple failed ideas we finally came to one we believe captures the feel and mechanics of telekinesis from the show and story. Like with the previous system, the player needs to target an object or character, then click and hold the cast button. However, unlike the old system, the object/character is not brought in front of the player. Instead the player can freely move it on the X axis(left and right) and Y axis(up and down) with the mouse, and on the Z axis(forward and backwards) with the scroll wheel. In short, if the player wants to move object up, then they simply need to move the mouse up, if they want to move an object forward then they scroll the scroll wheel forward.
Further more, actual combat with telekinesis will be accomplished with our physics engine. All damage inflicted by objects will scale in relation to the weight and the velocity at which that object collides with a character. The more an object weighs and the faster it hits something, the more damage you can do with it. To keep the spell balanced, the players Magic skill will determine the speed at which you can move objects. There will also be perks and traits that can improve upon this as well, but your magic skill will be the primary factor.
All this together allows for a much more unique and rewarding experience while using telekinesis.