by: Michael Dapiran, Brian May, Richard Pospesel, and Bert Wierenga

Tribernetica is an action platformer that combines ranged and melee combat with platforming through the use of a power switching system where, at the press of a button, the player's character will take on the properties of Iron, Heat, or Cold. What this means, in terms of effect, is that there is a burst around the player that will affect an area on-screen near the player, influencing everything in that area with the power. What this affects, in terms of gameplay, is depending on the power used and the context in a given area, different effects will occur, ranging from simply moving dynamic objects in the world to activating complex machines inside of the game world.

These variable powers available to the player will provide direct interaction with movement physics in the world. Switching to Cold will drastically reduce your friction, allowing you to move much faster, but makes it harder to accelerate quickly. Iron will increase your friction drastically, making it much harder for the environment to move you (Fans, explosions, etc.), and making it much harder for you to move yourself. Heat will be a balance of the two, allowing you to move at an even pace.

Iron and Heat will allow you to alter pieces of the world as well. Heat will contextually allow you to destroy barriers made of ice or other flammable materials, and Iron will contextually allow you to knock around dynamic objects, allowing you to access new sections of the world. The way Cold works into this is in the placement of ramps and long jumps, where you will need to move very quickly in order to traverse from one point to another.

The gameplay will take place on a two dimensional plane, but the assets will be rendered in three dimensions. This effect is usually referred to as 2.5D. Each of the three powers has a weapon associated with it: Iron has a hammer, Heat has a sword and Cold has a spear. Every weapon enables the player to launch a variety of attacks, depending on the active power and the current state of the player. The game uses the keyboard for movement and power switching and it uses the mouse for aiming and attacking.

• Dapiran, Michael - Creating an Icicle Growth Effect Using DirectX 11 Tessellation
• May, Brian - Tutorial Series on Effective Game Art Creation
• Pospesel, Richard - Task-Based Multithreading in the Hogshead Game Engine
• Wierenga, Bert - Pathfinding in 2.5D