Stellarune is an action strategy roguelike debut for our indie studio Mergician Productions.
Platform: Unreal Engine
Status: Ongoing
Team Size: 6
Stellarune
Sbrout
Fire spells add up to 3 burn stacks, then damage enemies a burst and burn effect.
Aether spells are neutral abilities used for defensive purposes and basic attacks.
Stellarune began with an inquiry, how can we improve upon the rogue-like action strategy formula captured by games like MegaMan Battle Network and One Step From Eden?
Fire
Enemies
The following AI enemies utilize UE5 blueprints and behavior trees, running tasks for each unique enemy attack, behavior, and player reaction.
I designed, programmed, and implemented each enemy to ensure that they are memorable, mechanically unique, and encourage player agency.
Shy bone-shelled creatures, Ribbeams burrow underground to temporarily hide from the player’s projectiles.
Mischievous globules of living plant matter, Sbrouts bury themselves and seep through the ground for a sneak attack behind the player’s position.
PVP
Player vs Player combat was another important implementation for proving how fun our core game was.
Here I helped implement Xbox controller functionality as well as testing and modifying player spells, status effects, and hit registration for Player VS Player combat.
Soulless mages that steal slain mage’s magic, Sourcerers fires multiple elemental projectile spells in quick succession.
Aggressive and bloodthirsty insects, Direflies can shoot stingers and destroy projectiles just by flying
through them.
The first guardian of the Soul Sanctum, Mryga can alter the earth and sky, summoning rays of light, crystal projectiles, small black holes, and earthquakes.
Hulking mushroom ogres, Bludspores force their enemies closer via toxic gas while using great fists to inflict knockback.
Lightning spells add a charge to the player, scaling their lightning damage percentage.
Ribbeam
Aether
Lightning
Making Magic
Based on initial mockups by our lead game designer (May Li).
Fire spells add burn stack UI, which when full, deals a burst of damage and instantiates a lingering burn effect.
Lightning spells scale the player’s attack, causing increased damage for other lightning spells.
Aether spells are basic spells and can offer essential protection from enemy attacks.
Next Steps
While this progress has been good for capturing core mechanics, there is much more to develop for spells, enemies, new regions, and improved game-loop.
Overall, I am proud to grow my skills in team collaboration, project management, and game design/direction.
Currently our project is on hiatus, but there is still always hope to expand the project in the future!
Direfly
Sourcerer
Bludspore
Mryga
Trailer
Stellarune focuses on balancing luck and reaction timing, with players rolling soul dice to cast magic spells while facing off against mana-corrupted creatures.
Players use WASD to move and UIOP to fire spells.
Check out the steam page for any further updates on release!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2581110/Stellarune/