Project report
Tabletop Tumult
– From development to release
Take on the roles of brave heroes and defend your castle together against unstoppable waves of enemies in this PC-VR co-op game! In Tabletop Tumult you experience action-packed, tactical gameplay where strategy and teamwork take center stage. Build mighty towers, choose between random upgrades and outlast your friends to secure your place on the high score list.
Project participants
Alexander Kutter
Heizo Schulze
Tobit Happe
Leon Käuper
Anna-Lisa Kramer
Kevin Mantei
Till Sobioch
Marvin Ammerschuber
Nils Kröger
Weiterentwicklung:
Tobit Happe
Project status
In Development
THE GAME
Imagine,
Imagine you are in the middle of the action - a castle must be defended, your opponents are advancing and only by working together can you hold out. Welcome to Tabletop Tumult, the exciting PCVR multiplayer game where you and another player develop strategies together and fight for victory.
· VR Perspective
As a VR player, you have full control of the battlefield. Build defensive towers wherever you want and combine different building parts to create powerful defenses. You can even deflect catapult projectiles and throw them back at your enemies. PC players can jump right into the fray, switching between sword and bow to help gather resources and fight the advancing hordes..
Will you choose the powerful Lightning Chain, which kills several enemies in one hit? Or the Gauntlet, which allows you to sweep enemies right off the map?
Tabletop Tumult features a unique upgrade system that makes every game run a new experience. After each wave of enemies, you can choose between random upgrades that dramatically increase your abilities.
· PC Perspective
As a PC player, you also have exciting options to choose from: Set traps, plant bombs, or use the Fire Sprint to set entire groups of enemies on fire. With each upgrade, you can discover new synergies and create powerful combinations that make you unstoppable.
Legendary upgrades await you with every defeated boss, taking the game to a new level: Become huge, unleash Lightning Chain with every attack, or turn into a tank that flattens everything!
VR players can also unlock impressive options such as a powerful combat unit that fights on the field, a tactically placeable laser wall or the legendary Flamethrower Turret.
Show off your skills, beat your friends' high scores and defend the castle!
Release of a free demo at the Steam Festival of Local Multiplayer: February 10 - 17, 2025
The development of Tabletop Tumult
The development of Tabletop Tumult began with a clear goal: As part of a course of study, a playable PCVR co-op prototype was to be completed by the opening of the master projects on April 9, 2024. The game was developed entirely in the Unity engine, using the OpenXR plugin to ensure compatibility with all major PCVR headsets.
As the development team consisted mainly of programmers, a large number of assets were used for the visual and acoustic design - ready-made packages containing 3D models of buildings, characters, animations or sounds, available for purchase or free on the Internet.
With ChatGPT as a constant helper for programming questions, the first playable version was created within a few months, demonstrating the game principle convincingly. This was presented at the vernissage and was very well received by the visitors. Many were enthusiastic about the innovative mix of strategy and action, and the interplay between the two different player perspectives.
With the project successfully completed and the goals achieved, work on the game came to an end for most of the students. However, Tobit Happe, one of the developers, decided to continue the project in his spare time. He spent the following year fixing bugs, expanding upgrade options, adding controller support, and developing new content and mechanics that could not be implemented during the prototype phase.
Exhibitions and Submissions
In May 2024, Tabletop Tumult was exhibited at the Detmold Design Week, where it was met with great interest.
The game was also submitted to the prestigious nextReality.contest and was nominated in the Young Talent category and for the Community Award. It was presented at the award ceremony in Hamburg. It also found its place at other events, such as the “Ersti-Woche” of the Media Production students and was submitted to the GermanGameDev Showcase.
Finally, the game reached another milestone: its release on Steam. With continued development and release on multiple platforms, Tabletop Tumult has become an impressive example of the passion and creativity that goes into university projects.
