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.

XB2001 Door Problem Project Week 2

 For the second week of the brief, I cokpleted 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've completed.

XB2001 Door Problem Project Week 1

This next project in the list of Unreal Engine projects had each of us trying to solve the Door Problem,  which was to use a door in a game not as an obstruction to the player, but also an interesting game mechanic. My solution came in the form of a sequence of doors in a select few corridors, using differently shaped and sized keys to advance through the level. The level itself would be short, but full of gameplay the short amount of time the player has.

I have made made concept art for what I think the doors and keys would look like if the game was a finished product and not just a blockout in Unreal Engine.

The idea to use differently shaped keys for each door was heavily inspired from The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword, where each Boss Key from that game was a different shape that had to be inserted into each door.
The other main sources of inspiration for this blockout and design choices comes from early PC games that use 3D graphics, such as DOOM, whose levels were built around rushing through levels using keys to progress, as well as puzzle games like the Professor Layton series.

 

 

Ninja Theory Design Test XB2001 2020

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 chose 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, though 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’ll 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 end up 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 ones 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 to, as the boss room is beyond the Fog Room at the northmost 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.

 

Group Project XB2001 Week 2

 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 shos 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 ended up with the main theme of beauty on the inside, driven by self confidence.