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Steam News18 September 20259mo ago

Transformable weapons in NCORE. Part 1

Hi everyone! Today, we’ll start talking about one of NCORE’s key aspects—transformable weapons. We’ll break down how this works, what tactical possibilities it opens, and how it influences the course of battles.

In this update2

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Full NCORE update

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What changed

0 fixes1 addition5 changes0 removals
  • UI and audio
  • Gameplay
  • Events
changedTransformable weapons in NCOREThe role of weapons in shooters cannot be overstated. They hold a central place both conceptually and visually — what a character fires from is almost always in the player’s line of sight. That’s why it’s crucial to approach every aspect of weapon design with utmost seriousness: appearance, firing sound, recoil mechanics, damage, and more.
changedTransformable weapons in NCOREA weapon can serve as the foundation for a game's core mechanics, much like the portal gun in the Portal series. Some weapons become so beloved by players that they stand alongside the main characters — just like the crowbar and gravity gun from Half-Life.
changedTransformable weapons in NCOREIn NCORE, players step into the arena as gladiators — so how do we design their weapons? First, it’s important to note that the setting isn’t the Colosseum or a Ridley Scott film, but a distant future world, meaning gladiators need something modern and high-tech. Second, forcing a character to lug around a massive backpack, from which they could effortlessly pull out a knife or a rifle, didn’t seem like the right approach for us. Ultimately, the dev team decided to make every weapon transformable. However, we wanted to preserve the core elements of the original weapons rather than create something fantasy-like. Let’s take a look at how this idea turned out.
changedHow is it implemented?All weapon changes were designed in the style of Michael Bay’s Transformers. That means each gun has the necessary cuts, grooves, and hidden parts that allow it to morph into something else.
addedHow is it implemented?Developing the first transformations took the team a huge amount of time — no one had done anything like this before, so there was no ready-made solution. Rules had to be established for different weapon types, making the first 5-6 guns a real challenge. Just when a solution seemed to be in place, the next weapon would introduce a part that hadn’t been accounted for, forcing the team to rethink the approach. However, once the system was refined, the time required to create new weapons dropped significantly, as everyone involved understood the underlying logic.
changedHow is it implemented?Stay tuned, stay strong!

NCORE changes

changedThe role of weapons in shooters cannot be overstated. They hold a central place both conceptually and visually — what a character fires from is almost always in the player’s line of sight. That’s why it’s crucial to approach every aspect of weapon design with utmost seriousness: appearance, firing sound, recoil mechanics, damage, and more.
changedA weapon can serve as the foundation for a game's core mechanics, much like the portal gun in the Portal series. Some weapons become so beloved by players that they stand alongside the main characters — just like the crowbar and gravity gun from Half-Life.
changedIn NCORE, players step into the arena as gladiators — so how do we design their weapons? First, it’s important to note that the setting isn’t the Colosseum or a Ridley Scott film, but a distant future world, meaning gladiators need something modern and high-tech. Second, forcing a character to lug around a massive backpack, from which they could effortlessly pull out a knife or a rifle, didn’t seem like the right approach for us. Ultimately, the dev team decided to make every weapon transformable. However, we wanted to preserve the core elements of the original weapons rather than create something fantasy-like. Let’s take a look at how this idea turned out.
changedAll weapon changes were designed in the style of Michael Bay’s Transformers. That means each gun has the necessary cuts, grooves, and hidden parts that allow it to morph into something else.
addedDeveloping the first transformations took the team a huge amount of time — no one had done anything like this before, so there was no ready-made solution. Rules had to be established for different weapon types, making the first 5-6 guns a real challenge. Just when a solution seemed to be in place, the next weapon would introduce a part that hadn’t been accounted for, forcing the team to rethink the approach. However, once the system was refined, the time required to create new weapons dropped significantly, as everyone involved understood the underlying logic.

Hi everyone!

Today, we’ll start talking about one of NCORE’s key aspects—transformable weapons. We’ll break down how this works, what tactical possibilities it opens, and how it influences the course of battles.

Transformable weapons in NCORE

The role of weapons in shooters cannot be overstated. They hold a central place both conceptually and visually — what a character fires from is almost always in the player’s line of sight. That’s why it’s crucial to approach every aspect of weapon design with utmost seriousness: appearance, firing sound, recoil mechanics, damage, and more.

A weapon can serve as the foundation for a game's core mechanics, much like the portal gun in the Portal series. Some weapons become so beloved by players that they stand alongside the main characters — just like the crowbar and gravity gun from Half-Life.

In NCORE, players step into the arena as gladiators — so how do we design their weapons? First, it’s important to note that the setting isn’t the Colosseum or a Ridley Scott film, but a distant future world, meaning gladiators need something modern and high-tech. Second, forcing a character to lug around a massive backpack, from which they could effortlessly pull out a knife or a rifle, didn’t seem like the right approach for us. Ultimately, the dev team decided to make every weapon transformable. However, we wanted to preserve the core elements of the original weapons rather than create something fantasy-like. Let’s take a look at how this idea turned out.

How is it implemented?

All weapon changes were designed in the style of Michael Bay’s Transformers. That means each gun has the necessary cuts, grooves, and hidden parts that allow it to morph into something else.

Developing the first transformations took the team a huge amount of time — no one had done anything like this before, so there was no ready-made solution. Rules had to be established for different weapon types, making the first 5-6 guns a real challenge. Just when a solution seemed to be in place, the next weapon would introduce a part that hadn’t been accounted for, forcing the team to rethink the approach. However, once the system was refined, the time required to create new weapons dropped significantly, as everyone involved understood the underlying logic.

In the next part, we’ll dive into some of the development nitty-gritty — from a sketch to a 3D model, mo-cap, and lots and lots of testing.

Stay tuned, stay strong!

Source

Steam News / 18 September 2025

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