Workshop Concept Process

We are assigned to create a workshop that is interactive with story telling elements.

Synopsis: British soldier is patrolling the bunker. The soldier discovers the communication room in which a fellow solider shot himself. He noticed some of the equipment was smashed. Locating a gun, hidden notes, and a key key to his personal locked chest. The soldier then discovered the worker in radio room was a Nazi German spy.

After going through many concepts the story has adapted for 3D purposes. In this case there is no dead body in the room. Below is references I have collected, sketches, final concept and block out stages in Unreal 4.

Hero Prop Level (Paper Map)

Created a hero prop that is based off a water pump. Your objective in the game is to fill and drain containers to move throughout the factory. Your job is to escape while avoiding the security turrets and hazards in the factory.

Boss Level

Boss Level Research

So I looked at the game Diablo 3. Its one of the few games that I have played that fits our gameplay style and genre. I chose the boss battle in Diablo 3 with defeating the Skeleton King. Below I have gameplay I found of how the boss acts and moves around. His a heavy weapon based boss that can teleport around because of his slow swings. The Skeleton king also has the ability to raise more enemies from the dead to attack you. As you attack him he gets more aggressive like most bosses and sends more dead to attack you with more swings in each attack.
    Overall I want a slow moving boss that has a huge impact on attack. I plan to have them move faster as you attack them more as if they are getting mad or feel a sense of panic. Also plan to have the boss spawn other enemies if possible.

Battle Arena (Factory Power Plant)

My concept is inspired off a power plant factory in the middle of a wasteland. After the factory got shut down the place was left to sit and rust. Little did the company know they left the power core on and now it goes off every so often. It gain attention from a near by gang who took over the area and started holding death derby matches. Using the power core to the derby's benefit they installed barriers that move and other obstacles. Drivers are warned to stay away from the center but all the weapons just happened to be place under the core.

color scheme

Concept

 

storyboard

 

Below is my edit of the Spinout project we have been working on. After modeling a car, creating a track, programming particles, and editing a video the project is complete. Long process but overall learned a lot from testing out new ideas and learning more about game design.

    Moving forward with the racing assignments I research "Forza Horizon 2" for my attract trailer. At one point in time I used to own the XBOX One which gave me the opportunity to buy and play the Forza series of racing games. Forza has been around for along time and always impresses me with the cars. Sense this game was introducing so many features they had a lot of in game trailers. I choose this trailer for multiple reasons. One because it was one of the early launch trailers that introduced the game with real gameplay. The video even has a note in the bottom left side saying "All xbox one in-game footage" which is what we were looking for so it made it much easier. Lastly I used to play this game non-stop and I don't play a lot of racing games. For some reason this one got me hooked and I still miss playing it. Watching the trailer made me want to buy the game again. Forza has some of the most impressive graphics which can make the game get confused for a car simulation but it has pure arcade value. Tons of modes for the players to enter and compete in.  

    Below is the trailer I watched and it has tons of editing in it that were very effective. It worked because it truly sells the game for what it is, fun, fast, and simple great looking. Showing off all the traveling you as the player will do both on and off road. The cuts seem to work well and the camera angles all flow together making it seamless. Overall good for reference for a race trailer with all the dynamic shots showing off all the important features within a two minute period. The is great trailer still holds to this day and I remember watching it when it first got launched made me super excited to play it. Good audio although at times it can be a little much with whats going on but its rare. Would play this game again after watching it.

After working on multiple particle effects and having tons of trail and error I had to take steps back and make a different type of particle. Creating a electric explosion turned into a electric beam. The beam has multiple colors of light blues and greens inspired of the explosion concept. Using a beam emitters to create this. I attached this particle to a blueprint of a event in my track. The beam add effect to the overall game play and gives more warning to the player that the blueprints are not good. Here is the video below showing the particle in my track.

I choose to race around my track to show the view from the player perspective and also in the editor so you could get a close up of the particle. Overall the turn out for my particle was not what I had planned but I worked with limited information on this particle. Otherwise learned a lot about it and would spend more time on future ones.

Particle effect showing emitters.

blueprint code that I attached it in the track level.

Particle : Electric Explosion

Creating a electric explosion for a barrel in my race track. My barrel is a radio robot so it made sense to have electricity play a role in the particle effect. Getting inspiration from real life explosions the particle will have to have multiple emitters. Below is the video reference for the particle.

After watching the video the explosion have many different forms of setting off. Some start with smoke that lead to a fire, electric burst, and later explosion. Others let out a electrical beam it two separate targets that connect which cause the explosion. The overall color seems to fall under cool colors like blue, green, dark pick. Earlier in the video is more of the direction of what I am aiming for in my particle. I would like to add a smoke effect in it prior to the electricity being let out.

Below is the tutorial I used to get started because there was little info found on electric particles (at least that gave some direction of how to make it.)

 
After re-watching this video I was able to get started on at least creating a electric beam but as a emitter not a arched beam. Here are some screenshots of what I tried and worked with. The particle is no where near what it needs to get to (mostly because I am still figuring out what works with what.) After more research and further development of the particle I should get better results.

Work in progress

Materials I had to make for the use of this (got the idea from the electric particle in the Unreal tutorial) 

So far what I have for a particle (its in beam form to see it better)

This is my barrel design of a 60's retro radio robot. All based from the 1960's along with my car and track. Had fun making the video all made in Unreal 4. Had fun messing with the blueprint to change the timing on the robot and his movement with thrust. The audio will be changed because a corrupted wav file the audio didn't come through other then the default explosion sound. Overall it was great to work in premiere to create this video.

Code Image 1

Code Image2

 

Static mesh : Retro Radio Robot

Race Level Pre Pro : Brainstorming

    Welcome to Retrograde Roadway! Go back to simpler time of the 1960's. Take your car to the friendly neighborhood streets of this small town. Drive by famous landmarks that this town holds dear to their hearts. Visit Betty's Diner, Tony's Gas station, and last but not least Bob's ice cream parlor. The town being in the middle of nowhere attracts the oddest of visitors. Right around the 1950's scientist and engineers moved into this small town and started working on experimental products for everyday life. You may come across some of these experiments and they may not be friendly so keep a eye out. Otherwise best of luck and welcome!

Isometric Map

Storyboard

Color Scheme
  
The inspiration for this track all came from my concept of my car. I am modeling a 1965 Mustang which explains the time period. Taking that time period and putting my own twist on it. Gaining reference from the Fallout series, Saints Row 4, Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots, and a bunch of 60's inspired movies. Adding the sci-fi twist of the scientists and engineers moving in would explain the futuristic radio robots that players will encounter on the track. The race will take place during the evening, allowing the players to take a nice drive through the town right before the night life starts up. Below are some reference photos along with the Fallout 4 trailer setting the overall mood of the level.

Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing Transformed Level Analysis
 
Youtube: Captured on FRAPS (me playing)

Below is the link to my analysis over the game and level design overall!
Google Slides Link

zExploding Barrel

Our assignment was to design a barrel for our race track. We got to design anything using it for our level and getting inspiration from our theme. Sense I am unsure about my theme I went with the year of my car and how I view my car. I modeled a 1965 mustang with mods inspired from mad max. Doing some research on the 60's a lot of inventions came out. So I designed a blacklight barrel sense the blacklight came out in the 60's and it seemed  like fun. Also with more of a common design and made a construction cone barrel thinking people would want to avoid them anyway. After looking into the concept more I came up with a 3rd and final plan that will involve a radio from the 60's that is modded to blow up and would fit my car and overall theme of a retro 60's track.

Above is the black light design as a cube that would burst into many directions and would glow. Took away this design after noticing my car and theme overall is not future like and the concept would not complement the car. 

Cone design will small changes added but was unhappy with the turn out and overall I got bored at the idea of modeling and programming a cone to blow up...so this idea is taken off the list but shown for process. 

Final design is a radio from the 60's time period that has been taken in a shop and modded with explosives and lightbulbs for warning signals for the player. The lightbulb would turn on prior to the radio blowing up giving a few seconds of a warning to the player near. Going for a retro theme overall and below are photo reference.

Programming

The challenge for the week was to take a spiky block we made and give it personality. I created one of my old designs of a little robot for the block and added a spike for damage. Using blueprint classes I created a animation for the block to follow. Later made it so the eyes change color when the player gets close warning them its not friendly. Adding sound effects, color changes, camera shakes, and block movements the player can clearly be warned the block will do something. Overall fun to play with so we created a small level showing off the spiky block we created. I made a small ice cave where your the explorer trying to collect all the gold (coins) in the level. Learning about the timeline nod in blueprint was helpful and is a much cleaner way of animating the blocks with more flexibility and control. The video below is my play-through of the level.

"Space Jumper"
Game Design Section 2

    Your dropped into a space station in our solar system as a caption on a spaceship. Your instructed by your fellow robot crew members that the ship is under attack and you must escape the station. Given the basic mechanics of jumping, moving, timing, and collecting coins or "space coins" as the caption you must complete all task to get back to your ship. Little do you know the space station is testing its defense mechanisms and you must be quick on your feet to get through each section. 
     This project was developed over a 3 pass period with multiple test runs. My inspiration for the platform design is space. I took concepts from "Portal" by grasping the idea of a robot giving you instruction as you escape a space station. Using a robot of my design to add a little bit of narrative to the level. Overall the project was to learn about level design for tutorials. Applying knowledge from out past projects like the board game to developed a game that even a beginner could pick up and play. Introducing new elements and mechanics one at a time in a safe environment and later testing the players abilities. I found the most difficult part was simplifying the level enough so that any player could understand it and get through the level in under 3 minutes. Changes were made after learning more about the programming side of Blueprint further improving the level to run smoothly. The video below shows a run through of my plat former.

Level Design Layout

First I did research over a platforms layout. Understanding tutorials and how players are taught the basic mechanics of a game. After make different versions of this tutorial the final was produced in Illustrator to display it in a clean format. I learned you have to explain each step without using to much text and to keep the gameplay flowing.

STANDBY Level Layout 1-1 Analysis
Screenshots:

Analysis

The game Standby is easy to pick up precise platformer. Challenge your reaction in this fast-paced game and get out of the glitched world. 

How does the level layout contribute to the tutorial?
    -Smooth controls by dashing through the vibrant levels, crushing and overcoming all the obstacles on your way.

How much is left to the player to figure out on his own vs. how much is handed to him?

    -After passing the tutorial you are tested with all the skills in a mix of difficulties. After passing each section more obstacles are implemented into the game with new skills. 

What kind of obstacles are presented to the player?

    -The play mush race against time by shooting down blocks, dashing across platforms, jumping, and sliding into checkpoints.

How do they ramp up the difficulty as the tutorial advances?

    -By requiring the player to use more then just one skill at a time. When first introduced there is no possible way for the player to get hurt or die until they learn the new skill. Later there are obstacles they require the player to apply what they learned.

What kind of positive and negative feedback is given to the player?

    -Getting through checkpoints and collecting coins rewards the player for successfully making it through the level. Sense the game is time based if the player takes too long to complete the level they are reward very little points. In the end like most games your trying to get the highest amount of points.

How is the story integrated (if any)?

-Standby is a race against time and from the very start your introduced to your character a cyber cowboy. Your goal is to escape a glitches out world. Using your speed to pass through each obstacle.