Godot Version
4.7
Hello everyone! This is my first post on the Godot forums.
I’m currently developing a multiplayer game called Dead Ducklings: Fowl Play. It is a fast-paced, third-person capture-the-flag game where tiny ducklings battle across oversized, hazardous environments using improvised toy weapons, exaggerated movement, and cartoon-style knockback.
The ducklings are only about twelve inches tall, so ordinary objects become major pieces of the battlefield. Rooftop vents, air-conditioning units, pipes, water towers, soda cans, garden hoses, rulers, rubber bands, and other everyday objects are being turned into weapons, obstacles, and traversal tools.
The Main Idea
The goal is to combine:
- The readable team combat and classless chaos of games like Team Fortress 2
- The strong knockback and recovery mechanics of platform fighters
- Over-the-shoulder movement and aiming
- Tex Avery-inspired reactions and physical comedy
- Small characters navigating environments built at a much larger scale
It is a traditional capture-the-flag game, but combat is focused heavily on launching opponents out of the arena rather than simply draining a health bar.
Players can be knocked into the air, bounced off walls, flattened, stunned, thrown from rooftops, and forced to recover before falling out of bounds.
Current Development
The game is being developed in Godot 4.
So far, I have been working on:
- Server-authoritative multiplayer movement
- Player spawning, despawning, and respawning
- Snapshot interpolation
- An over-the-shoulder camera
- Jumping, high jumps, wall jumps, and aerial movement
- Knockback and environmental hazards
- Capture-the-flag objectives
- A modular rooftop arena
- Early weapon and reaction concepts
The first playable map is called Rooftop Ruckus. It is an industrial rooftop arena built around a central water tower, with vents, air-conditioning equipment, catwalks, pipes, jump routes, and several ways for players to get launched off the building.
Sticky-Hand Grappling Mechanic
One of the mechanics I’m currently designing is a grappling tool based on the stretchy sticky-hand toys that kids get from vending machines.
The player will be able to:
- Attach it to walls and environmental objects
- Pull toward the attachment point
- Release during the pull to launch through the air
- Swing around corners
- Grab lighter or weakened players and pull them closer
- Get pulled toward heavier or stronger players
I want it to feel playful and unpredictable while still being reliable enough for competitive movement.
Visual Direction
The game has a colorful post-apocalyptic setting, but the tone is more playful than grim. The ducklings have permanently crossed-out X eyes as part of their character design, even while they are alive.
The reactions and combat are meant to be exaggerated, energetic, and funny rather than realistic or graphic.
What I’m Hoping to Learn
This is my first serious multiplayer project in Godot, so I’m looking forward to learning from the community and documenting the development process as the game grows.
I would especially appreciate feedback on:
- Server-authoritative character movement
- Knockback systems in multiplayer
- Grappling and swinging mechanics
- Responsive third-person movement without client-side physics becoming unstable
- Efficient workflows between Blender and Godot
- Organizing a growing multiplayer project
I’ll continue sharing progress, gameplay tests, technical problems, and art as development moves forward.
Thanks for taking a look at Dead Ducklings: Fowl Play.
