FIRST ASSIGNMENT oct 19th
Joe Bigland September 2020
The first new project I had to complete in Year 2 of my Games Design Course was a Naughty Dog Design Test, in which I had four hours to create a level from the Uncharted series of games. Using SketchUp, I modelled a mock-up of the level with an original concept that has not been seen in a conventional Uncharted game from the series.
The level itself should last around 10 minutes of gameplay.
ASSIGNMENT 2 YEAR 2 October 19th
My next assignment was the Level Design test. For two weeks, I had to take a game that I was familiar with and make a level that was part of the game using similar and new mechanics. My level was part of Dark Souls Remastered, and was modelled in SketchUp, similar to the last assignment, however this model was of a much higher quality.
XB2001 UNREAL ENGINE LEVEL BLOCKOUT WEEK 2 nov 17th
The Second Week of this project started off with me making the blockout for the level, using different shapes to make the corridors, floors and stairs that the player will go through. Along with this, I also used blueprint tutorials courtesy of UCLan to follow from in my project. This allowed me to create defeatable enemies I placed, and a blueprint for a line to be shot, acting similarly to a gun to shoot with. With the blockout done, the last thing to complete was the Youtube video which was part of the brief, which acts as documentation.
XB2001 UE4 BLOCKOUT WEEK 1
This next project set on November 5 is all about creating a scenario where the player has to escape from an enemy, being chased in the process. In this case, the player is pursued by platoon of sword-wielding guards as they escape a kingdom. For the first week of this project, I mainly focused on the written aspects for the brief, answering the questions that were to make for a good framework, and to be something to think about as the level was blocked out.
In addition to this, I also created a map in Paint Tool SAI to act as a plan for my work, and as a template I would implement in Unreal Engine 4 while constructing the block-out.
GROUP PROJECT XB2001 WEEK 2 jan 14th
With all the assets for the PowerPoint completed, our group presented to a warm reception. I started the presentation off by giving the title of the project.
I created the concept
art for the character known as The Climber and another important character whose name was left
intentionally blank. I also created the art for what the beginning of the
game's areas would look like.
The game itself concluded
with the main theme of beauty on the inside, driven by self confidence.
NINJA THEORY DESIGN TEST XB2001 2020 jan 14th
THE WALKTHROUGH:
The next design test my class had to accomplish involved Ninja Theory's Design Test. This test included taking an existing game and giving it a new mechanic, while also providing the specification sheet for what would be needed to make this mechanic work by the game's development team, specifically roles. We also had to create a new blockout of a level which took full advantage of the new feature we had chosen to add.
My game of choice was Dark Souls, but with the ability to hang onto ropes in order to get around platforms and to attack enemies.
Provided in the blog is a 2D map layout of the level, which I used to great advantage whilst blocking out the actual level for Unreal Engine.
Key:
Red Diamond: Enemy
Big Red Diamond: Large Enemy
Blue Diamond: Item
Black Circle: Barrel
Zigzag Line: Fog Wall
Rectangle: Chest
Red Rectangle: Mimic
Red Skull: Boss
1: At the start of the level, the player appears in a small room after using a Key To The Shop, purchased by Domnhall of Zena’s inventory. The player is greeted with one Rabid Hollow, with a Broken Straight Sword. After turning left, two more of the same enemy will greet you. Rolling into or attacking the table and chairs will allow you to break them, although the only benefit is to give you more space to fight in.
2: Turning right will lead to a room off the beaten path, where two Butchers stand behind a table, cutting meat with their cleavers. Getting close will prompt them to attack. Behind each butcher is a chest, the first one containing a Large Titanite Shard for weapon upgrades, the other containing a Purple Moss Clump, that cures poison. Behind the tables is an item on a corpse, a Large Soul of A Lost Undead.
3: The third room is the first instance of the new mechanic being used. The ropes rotate around its track clockwise, so you will have to hang on in order to get across the gap. On each end, there are items left on corpses. Hidden in barrels. The first is a Soul of a Warrior, the next is a Fire Battleaxe.
4: After passing through a fog wall, signifying the halfway point in the level, another large conveyer of ropes is present in the room, in a figure-of-eight formation. Across each of the platforms the ropes take you is a bottomless pit, resulting in instant death. The ropes travel in a clockwise formation, so the first place that you will finally arrive in this room is to the West, with a stairwell leading to an enemy Hollow with a bow.
5: Through this way is an empty corridor with pillars, but dropping down are three Slime enemies, that can land on top of the player, dealing damage, or dealing damage when on the floor once the player is near. Turning right leads to another butcher guarding a chest, containing a Red Titanite Chunk. Next to the chest is a lever that opens up the East area from the middle room.
6: On the middle platform, there is a staircase that leads down into a basement. Inside, it is very dark, much like Tomb of The Giants, so it would be advised to use a Skull Lantern or Sunlight Maggot to light the way. Inside, there is one chest, but be warned, as it is a mimic in disguise. Defeating the mimic as it springs up, or taking the treasure from its mouth after using a loyd’s?? Talisman to make it fall asleep grants the player 5 Gold Coins, to be traded for Souls.
7: On the East side of the main room, the player will have to avoid the archer on the East platform. Outside, the player finds the stables where two Undead with Spears are present. But inside the small stables bursts out two Fang Boars, these without the armour normally protecting them. They are easier to kill, but they are just as fast and the player will have to deal with two of them, adding to the difficulty. Up North, an item can be found, a Four Pronged Plow, going back inside the stables gives the player a Dung Pie.
8: The player can skip the other rooms entirely if they so desire, as the boss room is beyond the Fog Room at the North most side of the main room. The boss of the room is a large mass of flesh stitched together by the Butchers. The Flesh Mound sits on top of the platform, his multiple arms attack one at a time sweep the area around him. Because of the sweeping attack, the player can be sent back easily off of the bottomless pit. Thankfully, the boss’ platform is in melee ranger, so an all manner of players can defeat it. The boss will drop 20000 Souls upon defeat, 1 Humanity and a Homeward Bone.
XB2001 DOOR PROBLEM PROJECT WEEK 2 FEB 25th
For the second week of the brief, I completed the next part of the required
material, which was the blockout itself.
Blocking out the level itself uses mainly Geometry pieces in Unreal Engine, as
they are easy to shape, move and rotate around, and have an easy to see,
distinctive checkerboard pattern.
I was also tasked with publishing a Youtube video of my commentary and gameplay of the level itself. To do this, I recorded the footage and my voice using OBS, which I had also done with the other Design test projects I had completed.
ASSIGNMENT 3 XB2001
The third assignment that I had to complete was to create an entire concept for a game that would fit onto one A4 page in Microsoft Word. The rest of the class did the same and we would have to pitch each one in a vote for whose should be made into a game. My concept was a game about a steampunk robot fighting back against the uprising of the digital age of technology. While it did not win any votes I was still satisfied with the idea I had put to paper.
HAMMER GIRL DEV BLOG feb 20th
Hammer Girl Project Week 1:
For this project, the class has had to design a level using the assets and
mechanics from an existing project called Hammer Girl.
Week 1:
Using these assets, I spent the first week of my time with the project, while
working alongside Eloise, who I was paired up with, creating the environment
and the town that my level would take place in. The level progression consists
of the titular Hammer Girl collecting mushrooms, which will allow her to exit
town to gather crystals in the local mines. The asset pack provided has allowed
me to build a believable town as a setting for my level.
Week 2: Much of the same level modelling has happened, but I have also taken time to complete
some coding for the overall beginning of making more Node coding.
Week 3:
Following the tutorials, I have used the
Blueprints and Event Graphs to piece together code and instructions for making
collectables and how to count how many of each collectable has been found. I
have also learnt how to create Integers and Booleans to help with stringing the
Nodes together. For this
project, Eloise my partner, has made a model of an enemy that may or may
not be implemented into the final result. Called a 'Goondrabat', these enemies
get in the way of Hammer Girl, impeding her progress to collect crystals.
Week 4: The further tutorials have taught me how to initiate dialogue and event planning through the code. I have been able to string an event which tells me how to collect enough crystals or mushrooms to trigger a door or gate opening. I have also created more NPC's for extra dialogue that can be triggered, should the player desire so. I did this in order to put more time into presentation and flavour for my project, as there were some problems along the way when it came to the coding of my project.
XB2001 VERTICAL SLICE GROUP PROJECT: LAND CRASHER April 8th
For the biggest project in the
XB2001 module, I have had to work on so far, my group and I 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 destructible
props in the main
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 destructible, as well as tiles which to walk on. This tile set that was needed for the destructible items were trees, houses and walls.
The tile set 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, which 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 on 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 April 8th
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 are not locked out and the basement, which is the scariest location to the player.
