Created entirely with Virtools Dev, Muridae Massacre: Open Season was developed as an entry to the Independent Games Festival 2003. In MM, the player must strategically place traps and explosives to prevent a hoard of rodents from traversing the level to their goal. The game is perhaps best described as the polar opposite of the Lemmings franchise: rather than aid the little creatures in avoiding traps, the player is responsible for the rodents’ demise.

The team’s goal was to create a potentially high-profile vessel for the artist-heavy team to showcase high-quality work. The large decentralized team had only four months of full production from the project kickoff until the first-round IGF submission was due.

These documents aim to share the lessons learned during the MM project, and hopefully introduce some new technical concepts and solutions to Dev users. Some of the topics will cover general solutions to problems encountered while climbing the learning curve, and others will present technical case studies of specific techniques used in MM.

Demos: Muridae Massacre

Designing Autonomous Characters
Describes the techniques and research used to develop the rodent characters in MM. The team’s initial goals, limitations, and concerns are discussed, as well as the team’s approach and mentality to reach these goals. This article covers the technical implementation of steering behaviors as a means to describe and dictate a character’s action. The included example composition demonstrates an implementation using several behaviors from MM.

Waypoints and Weighting Paths
Covers the waypoint system implemented in MM to define level layouts for the rodent characters. This article discusses the technical options explored by the team in the early stages of the project, as well as an explanation of the final waypoint system used by MM. This waypoint system includes random weights on branching, demonstrated by the included example composition.

Managing Advanced Effects
Presents the method employed by MM’s programmers and artists for wrangling complex particle effects. This case study describes the production goals for MM’s use of effects, the solution implementation, and general tips and caveats for working with complicated effect setups. The included example composition demonstrates several of the effects used in MM.

Modularizing Game Logic
Managing the organization of a project’s scripts can quickly become a confusing affair. This article discusses methods used to modularize game logic for events in MM. Abandoned alternative techniques are listed and explained, as well as a technical overview of the array technique used by MM. The included example composition demonstrates a damage and explosion management system.

Creating 2D Minimap/Radar
A 2D radar or mini-map is a common feature in games today. This tutorial covers the concepts used to create radar with both absolute and relative plotting. The included example composition implements both radar types in a simple interactive environment.

Note: Muridae Massacre is looking for a publisher or alternative means to continue the project.
Email contact@muridaemassacre.com for more information