GolemheimGolemheim

GOLEMHEIM

Golemheim is a multiplayer melee brawler with advanced combat and movement mechanics, and deep customization in both cosmetics and play options. Block, counter, feint, and dismember. Grapple across the arena, wall-run, slide, and chain together fast paced 3D movement with in depth combat in the first Movement Slasher. Supports both third and first person POVs. Everything you can pick up is a weapon: rocks, thrown swords, the fish you just caught, even your foe's severed arm. Pilot titanic Golem's and clobber those that stand in your way!

MOVE LIKE A 3D PLATFORMER (or don't!)

Wall-run, slide, vault, dodge, and cast a grapple that swings you across the battle, yanks weapons to your hand, or drags enemies to you. Speed is a weapon too, as there is speed based damage scaling. Thrown weapons also inherit your speed and trajectory, so you must account for that to land powerful thrown attacks!

OR DON'T! All fancy movement like the grapple, wall run, and knee slide can be turned off in the custom game settings menu. 

The game is the ultimate melee combat playground, I won't tell you how to play it, I just want you to have fun.

This game was made to combine the thrill of a Movement Shooter with the up-close-and-personal fun and deep combat of a Medieval Slasher. Golemheim is the first true Movement Slasher, with the combat and movement naturally complimenting each other. 

FIRST OR THIRD PERSON COMBAT

Golemheim is designed to be enjoyable for those that play in first or third person perspectives. First offers an up close and personal, more cinematic experience, and third allows for greater awareness on the battlefield. Whatever you prefer, play the way you want! Full key rebinding lets you customize and have complete control over your controls as well, so your fight feels exactly the way you want it to.

When creating a custom game, choose what perspective the lobby will use, or let the player decide. I want you to be able to have the experience YOU want to have. 

WHAT YOU SEE IS THE HITBOX

Hit's are determined in 2 ways, a ray hit tracer and a hurtbox volume, both based on the weapon you are holding's actual physical bounds and length. Every swing traces the real blade through the world, meaning if you drag or accelerate your swing, it affects the path and hitbox of your weapon, and blood blooms and limbs come off where the edge lands. If it looks like it hit, it hit. If it looks like it missed, it missed. Shields on the back can even block projectiles, with sharp weapons thunking into them. All hit volumes and hurtboxes can be toggled with a dev view if you would like to study them in practice. 

NO CANNED ANIMATIONS, PHYSICS ACTUALLY MATTER

Golemheim has no traditional animations at all. My fighters are built from solid pieces driven by code, IK, and physics, all built with an in house software that I will release for free for modders to enjoy: every swing, flinch, stumble, and stride is computed live, never played back from a clip. First person and third person are the same body, and switching between them only moves the camera, so what your opponent sees is always exactly what you are doing. Retreating and throw your weapon? The backpedal will reduce the speed that the weapon will fly, making it do less damage. Swing damage is based on speed as well as the hitbox on the weapon that you land. For example, the Axe has a stronger, slashing hitbox at it's head that can cleave, and the shaft is blunt, weaker, and will bounce off people it hits. When thrown, only sharp hitboxes can stick into things like walls, or heads. 

EVERYTHING IS A WEAPON

Rocks. Your enemy's sword. Their severed arm. Their severed head. That big fish you just caught, the fishing pole you caught it with. If it moves, it can be picked up. If it can be picked up, it can be used to whack someone. I have created a system that lets me import any model, set it's parameters, and it automatically becomes a usable weapon. Thisn will let me populate the world with dozens of random weapons. This system is also very mod friendly. 

CLIMB INTO A GOLEM

Summon a towering stone golem, leap into it, and get ready to decimate the battle field! I have created a modular character controller system that allows for any number of playable body rigs, each with their own combat, player controller, weapons, and animations, all within the same engine, meaning you can sever a Golem's leg or arm, just like you can against a puny Knight! The power a monstrous stone Golem brings to the melee is balanced by the fact that you can no longer use your strongest movement mechanics. 

MODES

Existing, fully built modes are Free-for-all Brawl, Team Deathmatch, Team Elimination, and Domination, plus PvE modes such as hoard survival with friends online! A PvEvP mode is in development right now as well. 

WAY TOO IN DEPTH MUSIC SYSTEM
BE THE BARD

Instruments in Golemheim are really playable. Two full octaves, chords, and a sharp modifier, all stackable. By default, the number pad's nine keys play a real musical scale, one modifier stacks true in-scale chords, crouching drops you an octave, and there is a modifier to sharp any note or chord. Or just pull out a lute and it strums a real melody while you wander, your character plays on it's own if you don't want to control it, but every note the pre authored song plays is one you can play yourself. Start at the same time, and you and your friends will harmonize on the pre authored song. Serenade a duel, inspire your team, or sit in the hub world with your friends and just jam together. And when the song is over, just like anything that moves, that musical instrument becomes an instrument of VIOLENCE! The system is modular, so any amount of instruments can be added into the game with no issue.

EARN YOUR ARMOR AND STEEL

Armor and weapon customization is unlocked by playing, not by paying. Every skin in the game is tied to an in game achievement: rack up kills, wins, headshots, severs, catch fish, or pull off stranger deeds, and unlock the armor piece. No microtransactions, no cash shop, no battle pass. If you see a fighter wearing something rare, they earned it (or you have a mod installed that you forgot about). Since the body is made of several actual pieces instead of a mesh, you can mix and match any armor set! (UI to be updated soon). All armor and weapon skins are cosmetic, and provide no advantage over default skins other than pure aura. 

MOD SUPPORT AND KEY REBINDS

I believe the best content for any game comes from the community. The game will be shipping with any tools I can create that will help modders, as well as guides on how to create things for the game. I have attempted to make this game's mods as easy to get started with as possible. It also runs on Godot, one of the most beginner friendly platforms out there. Steam Workshop integration will be a top priority for public release, so the community can make this game their own.   

MY CORE PHILOSOPHY: PASSION OVER PROFFIT

I'm not motivated by money, I have no deadlines, and no parent company telling me to make safer choices. I have a full-time job outside of game development that gives me incredible flexibility to work on this game, and I have an obsession I have never in my life felt before, directed at making Golemheim. I'm making this game because I want it to exist, it's the same reason I made mods for retro game system games back in the day, which is how I got into game development in the first place. No one paid me for them, I made them because I wanted to, for the love of the game. The only monetary motivation I have is to be able to hire devs smarter than me to fix any bugs. 

SOLO DEV

Hey there! Thank you for getting to the end of this long description :) This game is a passion project I am making in my free time. I work full time and am funding development on my own, meaning everything you will see is a product of love, care, and a deep passion for making the kind of game I always wanted to play. The game is in early development right now, but I can't wait to polish it until it shines! I genuinely cannot thank you enough for your interest in my little indie game!
- Canonheim