Become a hero as you must find and destroy a secret lab in this exciting Third-Person Sci-Fi game. Play as a secret government Scientist who switched sides to stop his old organization from taking over the world genetically engineered giant spiders. With its accessible controls, it is easy to pick up for new players, and is perfect for introducing people to gaming!
| Type of Project | Solo Project |
|---|---|
| Duration: | 2.5 Months |
| Platform: | Unreal Engine 4 |
| Genre: | Third Person Dark Sci-Fi |
| Software Used: | Unreal Engine 4, Maya, Blueprints, Photoshop, Perforce, Discord |
Objective:
The goal of this level is to create a wide-linear action sequence that takes place in a secret government-owned facility in a futuristic city. I wanted to script multiple types of enemy encounters that challenge the player and force them to eliminate their opponents before time runs out on the counter. This drives the player to think on their feet with the tools given to them and the assets they must get to succeed in the game.
Responsibilities:
Responsible for coming up with a Third-Person game.
Since I love dark games, I chose to create a Sci-Fi genre-based game that I would personally find exciting and immersive.
I was responsible for all stages from concept to completion and lighting.
- I designed and documented the mechanics of the game to utilize techniques to make the game fun, immersive, and intuitive.
- I have worked on the lighting and the mood.
- I have playtested and debugged Blueprints.
Gameplay:
Process:
Preproduction - Research:
During Preproduction some of my main responsibilities was to choose a genre, mechanics, pathing and lighting. From a design perspective, I wanted to make sure that the controls were intuitive, and the level fun to play.
References: References were gathered and put into a file to help convey the idea, mood, and direction that I wanted to go with my level.
The idea to Photoshop: Clear documentation of the level idea was recorded. It helped block out the level without much trouble which led to easier editing if/or redoing the whole design at a later time. This led to less reiteration later down the road of whiteboxing.
Outline:
This is the top view of the outline for the level.
Click on the image for a larger view.
Legend Path:
This was the player path for the outline to give a better understanding of where and what the player would encounter on the way.
Production: From Concept to Whitebox
As soon I was done with my outline I started on my Whitebox and Blueprinting. This was the level that was first done from the outline which was very easy to find the enemies and your way around the level.
Whitebox Phase & Testing Video:
Blueprints:
To make this game work as interactive as it became, I really wanted the player to be able to plant bombs and make it explode while a timer was counting down. So here are some of the mechanics that went into this level. I also reached out to my Professor Hez for more detailed explanations of some more complex techniques and some debugging I had challenges with. I also enlisted the expertise of my Technical Designer, friend, Rohit for other debugging and assisting with specific testing areas..
Lock and Key:
This is the lock and key that the player uses to open doors that is containing the bomb they need to pick up.
Click on the images to view a larger version.
Count Down Timer:
This one took me a while to do, I learned how to do this simple counter. Originally it was set to 10 minutes but then I turned it down to 5 minutes in the game to give the player a “hurry up” feeling to win the game.
Click on the images below to view a larger version.
Alarm Lights:
The lights start going off with music playing and sound as the player goes into the trigger volumes.
Click on the images to view a larger version.
Bombs and Planting:
This Blueprint was an extreme challenge for me. I had some of my logic being skewed and I asked for assistance from my professor, Hez Kiah to come up with a more polished and workable technique. I then experienced further debug issues that my friend Rohit Thakre, who is a Technical Designer, helped me with explaining and assisting me with the debugging of bomb planting. Afterwards, it worked just how I imagined. I have since done the bomb count feature since it was similar to the key count.
Production: Set dressing and Lighting
This was the beginning of set dressing and lighting the space. After receiving feedback to add more enemies and covers I added and subtracted enemies and covers for different locations to experience a more unified feel and challenge to the game. I had to lower some of the lights that were slightly blown out, I added a color gradient at the end of the post-processing system. The majority of the lights are static while some of the lights are dynamic like the alarm lights. This was really fun to decorate the level and play through it.
Final:
After some discussion with other students and receiving feedback to add even more enemies and covers, I had to then re-evaluate and chose to include more enemies and covers to increase the challenges presented to the player. I double checked that the lights were working along with all Blueprints. Some of the rooms had to been changed to make it easier for the player to know where they are in the level and less likely to get lost.
Click on images to view a larger version.
Final Gameplay:
After receiving further feedback from the Alpha gameplay I have toned down the reflections lighting. The red room was changed to look like a storage area since it was agreed I had too many offices and thus I ended up wanting a different type of space setting for player variety and it is now a storage area. I also lowered the Bomb timer to 3 minutes instead of 5 minutes. I also decided to add a few more covers to the boss area section and made some of the rooms look decidedly different.
This video is also at the top of the page as well.