VECT0R
Overview
VECT0R is a high-speed 2v2 arena shooter built in Unity. Source-engine movement lineage — air-strafing, surfing, bunny-hopping — reborn as core features, not exploits.
Each round opens with a shop of randomized cards that mutate your loadout, so every match plays differently from the one before it.
Contributions
- Card-based loadout system — customize weapons and gadgets mid-match.
- Weapons & movement gadgets — grappling hook, dash, minigun, rocket launcher.
- Arena level design, environment, and lighting.
- Player movement system — responsive, high-speed core locomotion.
Core Loop
Game loop (top) · Mechanics chart (bottom)
Systems at a glance
The round loop drives everything — prep, shop, fight, reset. Each phase feeds the next: cards bought in prep shape the fight, fight outcomes shape the next shop. A tight economy with room for long tactics.
Card-based Loadout
Every match, a new deck
Every match feels fresh thanks to randomized card options and evolving loadouts. Cards are the core strategy layer — an array of weapons, buffs, and gadgets.
In the prep phase a shop surfaces a randomized hand; each round forces new tactics.
Loadout in play — mid-match mutation
Mid-match mutation
The loadout is never locked. Players pivot between rounds — a support build becomes aggressive, a sniper becomes a mobility specialist — as the shop's randomized offerings rewrite the meta on the fly.
Weapons & Gadgets
Grappling hook (top) · Dash device (bottom)
Movement gadgets
Gadgets extend the locomotion system — each one a verb players combine with air-strafing, surfing, and bunny-hops. The grapple rewards long sightlines; the dash punishes hesitation.
Shotgun (top) · Minigun (bottom)
Weapon feel
Each weapon carries unique recoil that alters trajectory — shotguns rocket-jump, miniguns brake your slide, rockets fling you upward. Weapons are movement.
Rocket launcher — the skill ceiling
Rocket jump
The rocket launcher is the high-skill anchor — vertical mobility, splash damage, and a heavy cost-per-shot. Mastering it unlocks traversal routes that no other weapon offers.
Level Design
Arena overview — brutalist beta
Initial guidelines
Ample vertical spaces — multiple ways to move up. No sharp corners — accommodates high movement speeds. Symmetrical maps — ensures balanced, competitive play. Falling off the map — knockback and jumps can punish.
Step 01 · First blockout — 01 / 2025
Step 01 · First blockout
Exceeded optimal size — the map was too large for the 2v2 cadence and delayed enemy encounters. Players spent more time traveling than fighting.
Step 02 · Second blockout — 02 / 2025
Step 02 · Second blockout
Reduced scale — but players gravitated to the center, leaving flanks unused. A smaller map alone didn't fix the encounter problem.
Step 03 · Rework — 03 / 2025
Step 03 · Rework
Introduced blockout metrics to refine scale — jump arcs, dash distances, and rocket-jump heights mapped to grid units. Every wall height became a decision.
Step 04 · Alpha — 04 / 2025
Step 04 · Alpha
Refined layout with improved spatial flow — tested with players, measured time-to-first-contact, adjusted vertical routes based on heatmaps.
Step 05 · Final — Beta
Step 05 · Beta · Final
Adopted a brutalist concrete style — a stark atmosphere matching the abstract, movement-first levels. The aesthetic reinforces the metric grid underneath.
Blue zone (left) · Orange zone (right)
Color-coded zones
The beta arena is split into four color zones — blue, orange, red, white — each with a distinct role in competitive play. Call-outs become intuitive; team coordination gets faster.
Red zone (left) · White zone (right)
Zone character
Each zone tunes cover density, verticality, and sightlines — red rewards aggression, white rewards patience. The zones force rotation, not camping.
Vertical play — rocket jumps and grapple routes
Verticality
The map's vertical stack pays off the movement system — every level of the arena is reachable through at least two gadget routes, and most through three.
Movement System
Movement config — Source lineage, Unity spin
Exploits as features
VECT0R's movement takes its lineage from the Source Engine, turning traditional exploits — air-strafing, surfing, bunny-hopping — into core features. Rebuilt in Unity with its own spin: sliding, auto-bhop, rocket jumps.
I also built movement gadgets — jump pads, dashes, double jumps. Each weapon carries unique recoil that alters trajectory, layering skill and strategy into combat.