Hero Prop level

Well Junior year has finally arrived. for game design class we have been assigned to create a level that would fit our prop that we made. I chose to make a musical prop that is modeled after an organ. as such the level will feature organ pipes and keys. the main stretch of the level will be to get to the other side of the map by dodging moving obsticals

Boss battle analysis

Boss Battle analysis 

For programming we had to analyze a boss battle. I chose mega-man X's first boss battle with Vile in Mech armor.

while during the intro you cannot harm him, the boss does produce different types of attacks like energy beams and rockets, as well as dashing and grabbing attacks. 

for my boss battle I was thinking about doing a giant knight to keep with the spirit of my levels theme (dark souls inspired) my boss would probably cast some sort of damaging particle that would track the character as well as produce swings from his sword and other enchanted effects. 

I was thinking that my boss would look something like this.

Battle arena Prepro

Battle arena Concept 

Sky top battle

High concept: battle arena that takes place on top of three skyscrapers that are under construction, keeping with the theme of the race track, the level will still be on mars and retain the futuristic look. the skyscraper will be composed of three towers that are in a red haze so one cannot see the ground.

Visual targets:

For a color palette I was thinking of lots of red something like this

Here is quick concept sketch of what the level may look like 

as for unique selling points, the level would have some of the similar selling points that my racing level had like gas barrels. the level would also have falling debris and pieces of the map itself.

Sophomore spinout Trailer

An Attract trailer for a racing game that I like

For homework, we have to pic an attract trailer for research and to begin thinking about making our own trailer. I chose the Dirt 3 attract trailer because its fast, it shows a good range of levels, and it has that added destruction of cars that I as a game love to see. I like the fact that it is fast because it gives the viewer time to sample multiple scenes from the game and get a sense of the main mechanics, in this case drifting seems to be the big thing in this trailer as almost every other shot has it. Overall I think that this trailer did a good job at conveying the game. 

Custom Particle Effect Final

Here is a beauty shot video of my final afterburner effect done in Unreal Engine 4. 

The full particle effect consists of a mesh emitter, GPU sprites, Ribbon effects, and regular sprites all working together to make this jet afterburner effect. 

Here is a better shot of the mesh creating a blue emissive color as well as the orange-ish gpu sprite. The video also shows the distortion effect. This effect will eventually be programmed onto the back of my car to make it seem like its a hover car.

 Here is the particle breakdown in cascade.

coustom partical system

For the past week we have been learning how to use Unreal's particle system "Cascade". Now that we have learned the basics of this particle creator. our class was given the task to make our own particle. this particle would then be implemented into our racing level. The particle that I wanted to make was an afterburner effect for my car since it has jet engines.

The three components of my particle would be the main Thruster which will go from a bright blue to an orange. The second part would be the heat distortion that the flame makes, and the third and final part would be the rings that you can see in the picture above. all three of these emitters combined would provide an authentic afterburner effect.

more reference images

here is a WIP of the particle that I am working on

Refined Version of my Race Track

Here is the refined version of my racing level done in Adobe Illustrator. With this version, I called out each aspect of the map that I wanted to have in my level from exploding barrels to the falling crane near the end. The next part of the process will be to grey box the entire level. 

Exploding barrel video

Here is the final product of my exploding barrel. The particles where given to me by my instructor to use for this assignment.

here is my code for the exploding barrel

Pre-pro for racing level

For our next project in game design we have been tasked with making a racing level. For my level I chose to do a futuristic level to fit the theme of my car. The level will take place on mars in a city that is under construction as such the player will have to navigate challenges like gas tanks, barriers and incomplete roads.

Some concept art that I based my idea off of. It would be very retro-future/ cyberpunk.

My level layout.

 

The general layout is pretty simple but for now this is merely an exercise and will be revised in the future 

The first lap is a simple circle with some challenges. 

The second lap starts with the breaking of the first track and leading to an underground section that eventually connects back to the main track. 

The third lap has the last leg of the track break a bit while the players are traveling through it. 

We where also asked to create a beat sheet that outlines our thoughts for a potential trailer. 

Overall the initial level design will most certainly change in due time as most concepts do. 

prepro for exploding barrel

For programming class we had to design a barrel. Let me take you through my design process.


Our barrel had do fit the theme of our level (mine is a sci-fi racing level ) so I looked at a bunch of futuristic concept art from The halo franchise and general asset production. Here are some of the more notable images of reference I found

My next step was to create a design that could explode since that was apart of the project criteria. I wanted my barrel to shoot gas out of the top when slightly damaged and then explode after a certain amount of time.

After that I began modeling the low poly version of my barrel.

During the next class we will learn how to make the barrel explode.

Programming spiky block video

As part of a programming assignment I had to make a short video showing off the spiky block that I programmed in class.

My overall experience with this was A little chaotic, I struggled with trying to get the shadows to expand which are still off. However the eyebrows do sync with the falling timeline. Below I will include some screenshots of the code I built in class.

Plat former Level Design Video

Here is a short video of the level that I constructed for my Game design and Programming classes 

Layout of 2D Platformer level

For the next part of the platformer level, we have to design our own 2D platformer level.

My concept for a platformer involves a vertical level design. The level design would ideally be implemented as a wizards tower where the player has to climb to the top and hit a switch that unlocks a teleport to the goal room. I personally am a fan of vertical level design because it provides the opportunity for multiple challenges. Also I'm a fan of the level design of Dark Souls so that was partially the reason behind the design of the level. If I where to make art for this level it would look something like this...

updated version of the paper layout done in adobe Illustrator

2D Platformer Analysis

For our first lesson of game design 2, we where tasked with playing and analyzing the a 2D platformer game. The game I chose to review was...

our analysis consisted of playing the tutorial level of the game. In Megamans case, this would be the first level on the highway. 

The level layout contributes to the tutorial because for the most part it is linear. This gives the player the ability to focus on learning the game and not getting lost. 

In the beginning of the level the player is beamed down onto the street and is shown only their health and no on-screen prompts to guide the player. However since I was playing on an emulator, the modified controls where listed on the side of the screen allowing me to at least get myself moving. Overall I found that if the player was playing on the Super Nintendo, he/she would have to figure it out on their own. The game rewards players for taking initiative and trying to figure out the controls

OBSTICALS

obstacles that the player encounters as they progress through the level are various robotic and environmental hazards robots of various shapes sizes and abilities are peppered along the level providing an ample challenge for the player as when they die, they start back at the start of the level. there are no checkpoints!

Some examples of the enemies that you will encounter on the first level (talk about enemy diversity!)

One of the things that I personally found to be neat when playing was that the game increased the difficulty the farther along you went in the game. This occurred in the form of mini bosses.

The bee helicopter acts as the mini boss and appears twice in the level. 

Once the mini boss was destroyed, it crashed to the ground revealing a secret drop just ahead. I thought that was pretty ingenious because they did it with out having to use words like modern games may have done. This section of the game also helps show the player that they can climb up walls, thus introducing the player to an element of vertical game play in an otherwise flat level.

The story is integrated, or begins for lack of a better word at the end of the level when you fight the main boss and he traps you, only to then be freed by one of your fellow companions who tells you that you may be as strong as them one day and to not despair at your defeat.

Screenshot of the boss battle. 

Below I have also included a map of what the layout of the game looks like with enemies.