Peat Biome Presentation

Peat Bog Biome Map and Mechanic

Exploratory Sketches

Game Commercial

Pitch: Game Commercial

I wanted to start my level off with a slow fade from back into my level USP I think this will really catch the viewers attention to see movement and interest to environment.

I wanted to show another closeup to a different elevation part of the map, which would be the center.




Getting some interesting and compelling closer shots, I wanted to do a really nice zoom out of the whole map, on cue with the music playing.



After the cinematic views, I wanted to start showing off how the USPS works with vehicles trying to cross it to get to the health as the lava is filling up.






Showing off vehicles trying not to make it too busy by only having two. Just showing off game play. And different vehicles, at this point just showing off recorded game play and interesting and fun moments.

Kirby: Triple Deluxe Boss - Flowery Woods

Kirby was the main influence for my shape language and enemy character designs so I thought it would be appropriate to reference one of the first bosses in Kirby Triple Deluxe. I think it makes for a very easy and primarily simple boss fight. The sounds are very light and cute when it attacks which is kind of what I wanted to go for, something thats more of a arcade feel. I do want my character to blink when they are hurt added onto the already hit sound.
For the animation portion, I do want my boss to be slamming the ground as it attacks with little stomp clouds coming up or rocks. The attacks will primarily from the boss be in three stage.

The first will be dashing randomly and trying to attack the player.
Second stage will be the boss backing off and shooting projectiles and over time trying to dash at the player at different intervals switching between these two attacks.
At phase three, the boss will start spawing the enemies who were in the background and in the stands while only just shooting. For the the health, I like would like to just put it either at the top right of the screen or the bottom right like in the example.

Plan for Vehicle Weapon

Planning for my Vehicle Weapon

For my weapon specifically, I decided to do a heat laser that shoots pretty quick and is powerful but has a long reload time and charges. I want to incorporate line tracing primarily for my weapon since it won't be shooting anything like bullets. Especially when it comes to damaging other players. I have developing what it will look like, and the blog will be updated with more of what the particles will look and references. 

Adventure Game Final Video

Adventure Game

Adventure Level Map:

I created my first level for my Adventure game. The story is that the player a garden witch gets their garden taken over by little evil goblin like enemies. The player is first placed in this area and you can go different directions. This includes to the left, a little farm with these mystical health fruits. To the right we are introduced to the weapon the Fire Rod and some dummies the player can hit before being brought to enemies. Once the player leaves the beginning area he is free to go and attack enemy camps. I'm also going to create a maze with goblin camps scattered through it. Eventually the end of the level will have a fort filled with enemies as the final challenge.

Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes Level Analysis

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Platformer Tutorial Level

Here is the completed map and gameplay of my Platform project.I learned a lot doing this project, like developing successful obstacles and gating mechanisms. This project we had to create our own 2D side-scroller-platforming-tutorial-level. I'm really happy with how my level ended up turning out and I'm proud of the work I've completed.

I first wanted to introduce the player by giving instructions on the movement W A S D followed by a goal of the gator wanting the player to save their friends. I think this is setting up the narrative and a simple direction of the player to move one. I also wanted to add visual elements in the beginning to set a setting for the player to be interested to explore.

The next area the player is forced into the first Fixed Camera and is the first challenge they had to come across. This is when they learn how to jump and having text on the screen telling them they need to "Use the Spacebar to Jump" followed by the gator doing a little jump and "Good Job!" dialogue to tell the player to keep going. I also wanted to feel like your actions had a point and the gators would react to them. I used both TextRenderActors for the dialogue and Timeline is for the jump. I also added a Play Sound 2D to give the gator a voice, this would later be used for all the gators.

After learning the basic controls, jump a bit more and you come across a gator that is trapped, and you have to try and save them. In the trigger box, I have a Fixed Camera, Plays 2D Sound, and Sets up a Boolean  saying we saved the gator. (This is for later on for my gating mechanism.) I am also using a Set Light Color to change the button light from blue to green. For the gator to move after I open the cage, I just destroy the Static Mesh gator, and Spawn a new moving gator. I also destroy part of the cage, so the gator can be set free.

The Static Turret BP:

I also decided to make my own custom turret that doesn't necessarily kill the player, but knocks them back instead. This really added something unique to my game because I liked the idea of it not killing you directly but still can lead to you hitting some spikes. It also adds timing and a little extra difficulty. In my Blueprint, I'm just basically setting a fixed direction and the projectile I set it so it's only on the XY axis, which means it can't go in Z (neither can the player) so when it hits the player, it sends them back because its in the same axis as them. Rather than what we had before that could go on Z, it is forced to move the player instead.

THE END/GATING MECHANISM:

Once you make it past the obstacles and save all the gators you have to press the button to open up the end door. When this happens, it first uses Branches to check the Booleans to see if they are set true. If you don't save all the gators, the door will play a Timeline and open just a bit then fall flat and text will pop up and tells the player that they didn't save all the gators, it then quits the game.

If you do save all of the gators, the Timeline will play and open the door completely, playing a success sound. This would lead the player to the end.

Programming: Spikey Block

Programming For Artists: Spikey Block

For our game we had to make a Spikey Block based off of the Womps in the Mario series. It had to have a visual cue and I added a little wiggle for the warning. I made both a normal spikey block and a side spikey block. This is to add more of a challenge to our game.

I know that I  wanted to have a really cute, simple but at the same time indicating to the player that this block is dangerous and will kill you. I think overall I was successful in designing the block. In the Unreal Engine Blueprint we are introduced to BP classes and animating in timelines in them. We learned we can change colors, add sounds, and even learning how to use the construction script.

This image shows the Event Begin Play that is Setting and Getting the Location of the Static Mesh of the Block. We use this later on for out timeline to animate our block. Above it we are setting it so when the Spikey Block falls, and it is saying when our character overlaps the box (On Begin Overlap) attached to the mesh the Scott's Death Function will kill the player, followed by turning on and off the collision so we can see us hitting the player.

As I was mentioning earlier, the Construction Script which I will go more into detail below, is setting up a Create Dynamic Material Instance. We are referencing the eye and setting the color change variable.

These nodes are representing when the player Overlaps the Trigger Box and sets it off, it is playing the animation, sound, camera shake and changing color of the block when the character is stepping in the range. We are getting references and locations so it doesn't get messed up in the process of  getting player controller and locations. The timeline is below.

In this particular part of the Timeline I am animating a shake and a fall and a slow rise up using the Z axis and time. I'm not using the Y or the X to animate this. Under that, I am setting the eyeball to change color and do a red to orange blink before hitting and fading back to white using the shake and the fall as a reference.

I do the same for both the Camera Shake and the Impact Sound both for when they hit the ground when  the animation timeline is dipping to the bottom when it hits. I made my own sound, and my own custom camera shake to fit.

Level Proposal

Level Proposal: Saving the Gators

For my level proposal I decided to do a lava themed map and also includes some sci-fi elements. The story is that a evil cooperation kidnaps poor little gators and you have to saved them. Of course throughout the whole map you quickly realize you have to get the key. I thought it would be interesting in doing something else with the enemies and have the only enemies be the environment of the level like the spikes and lava. Maybe eventually I'll add turrets if I can implement them but for now I'm not sure. Also I really enjoy my idea for this one! I wanted it to be pretty difficult and some story, but not so much puzzles. I also wanted to add key cards and just more doors and keys because I wanted to add a bit of difficulty and more gating.

Reference Images:

Game Analysis: Inside

 Game Analysis: Inside

Inside is a 2D puzzle platform by Playdead. (the same developers of Limbo) I ended up choosing this game for this project because it's fairly new and I think it has a very good tutorial stage and how they introduce different mechanics and not necessarily giving it to the player.
It first begins by you being able to interact with the environment. In the beginning they have you balancing on a log and crawling through fences. Walking, jumping, and climbing, are things that aren't really taught to you. Nothing is told to you, since there is no dialogue so the player interprets both narrative and figuring things out all on their own. After awhile of exploring they start to add a bit of a challenge, like enemies and actually interacting with objects. You have to interact with objects in order to get higher places like boxes. This also isn't really told to you but is left for the character to figure it out, but it shows the object usually clear in your path so you can't miss it. I think this game really breaks the mold of what 2D platformers are known for and shows that it can still be a dark and serious game.Overall, I feel like the pacing of this first stage is a good example on how to do other tutorials, and rewarding the player for doing things on their own. 

Link to Gameplay: