XB2001 Vertical Slice Group Project: land Crasher

 For the biggest project in the XB2001 module, I have had to work on so far, me and my group has had to think of an idea for a Vertical Slice, using each of our time to pool our efforts into a demo of a completed game.

After considering different ideas, such as a game centered about dreams and management of remaining enemies, we finally decided on the idea of a giant destroying the level's environment as you get to the goal.
The game's title was decided upon, finalized as Land Crasher. 

With the idea of the game not clearer, we were all assigned different roles for the development, so that we could all contribute. my role was animating the main character of the game, Clop the Cyclops. I was also in charge of making other assets, such as the backgrounds, and destructable props in the mian character's path.

Below are the frames of animation that were required for Clop. These consist of an idle, walking, charging, punching, low punch, and a jump leading to a stomp. Each cel was animated individually using Adobe Photoshop, while also using sketch lines and moving them with the Select and Move tools to act as a much better point of reference for each frame.

The next part of the process for my quota was making items that were destructable, as well as tiles from which to walk on. This tileset that was needed for destructable items were trees, houses and walls.

 

 

The tileset for the foreground environment includes flat ground, slopes, connecting tiles and under-pieces for the forest and the village levels, including other tiles to act as non-colliding props, such as fences, grass, wells and lamp posts. I have also created pickups for Clop to collect, when are a cow on a spit-roast for health and a treasure chest for score, and a door that can be broken.

Since one of the group members was absent to make progress for the backgrounds that make the scene more inviting and interesting, I took it upon myself to fill in what was missing. Each background complimented the Forest and the Village, though the additions do pale in comparison to the original artist's efforts, but my additions will suffice.

The original artist has (as of now) finished the original version of the backgrounds, but these versions will be kept here for documentation's sake.

Unreal Engine Lighting For Design Project XB2001

This Unreal Engine Blockout for XB2001 requires me to use light either as a gameplay mechanic or to guide the player through the environment. We can use one of three environments as a starting point, an amusement park, a military base or a mansion. 

 

My setting of choice will be a mansion that the player has to traverse through, holding a torch in hand, in order to keep the Grue away as you try to locate the mansion’s stash of treasure across multiple Safes. The aesthetics of this level also lean towards old Hanna barbera cartoons, like the classic Scooby Doo series, which featured an old mansion in the opening title sequence and a select few episodes. 

 

The use of darkness as an ever-encroaching force of evil that should be kept away from is taken from classic text adventure games like Zork, where it was advised the player had a torch handy at all times. To help give the player a much more fitting atmosphere that fits in line with the games’ mechanics, the time of day will be set to midnight/early morning to fit the mood easier. 

 

Some important features to note are that the weather is constantly raining, along with there being many holes in the roof and walls, so a stiff breeze blowing through and rainfall can put out the player’s torch, leaving them vulnerable to dark areas. 

 

As the mansion is old, with the only newer thing being a select few lights to help guide the players way, getting around the mansion requires basic platforming as many of the floors, landings and stairs have holes in certain areas. The area of the level itself spans between the ground floors, the landings, select rooms that aren’t locked out and the basement, which is the scariest location to the player.