Visual Design - Life Drawing - The Best Of Term 2

Gameplay and Interactivity - Spring Submission

Gameplay and Interactivity - Spring Submission (Group Game)

We started off this unit by being asked to create a board game in the lesson in the groups that we had been placed. We had a given time limit and could only use: paper, pen, pencil, and counters.
In my group there is myself, Will, James and Emma. In our original board game we discussed ideas and our board game had a wild west theme and the main gimmick involved using the counters in a different way, propelling one using another to try and get the counter into a given target. The target had numbers in and the number you get is how many spaces you moved. We added interactions such as duels using these mechanics to make it more interesting.

After that we were told about the terms assignment. To create a 2D game together, it couldn't be a side scrolling game however. We then went to research games within the genre which we could take inspiration from.

The main inspiration for our original ideas was the game Battleblock Theater (Image of gameplay shown below):

After researching different games we then started sketching ideas for levels for our own game.
The main concept of our original game was that the player (you) are a secret agent trying to recover tech from a mad scientist that had stole them, having to travel through different areas of the world to recover the missing tech.

We each sketched a different idea for levels, using a blocked out style. We liked this style initially because of how easy positioning and sizing are. It was very easy to create a clean looking game that was also functional.
This was my very first sketch for a level:

We then continued to develop each of our initial ideas and make them into 3D products.

This a screenshot of a non textured version of the ice level I created:

As shown in the image above I also created a piece of concept art for the ice mountains behind the level:

However at this time we had multiple levels and unfinished coding. We also had a rock mountain level which Will was making and there was an underwater level in development.

After our first milestone we discussed the idea with Ewan where he then suggested that we stick to a single type of environment. We also has disagreements on whether the level should be made in a block structure or not. In the end we decided too abandon the block idea so that we could add more detail. All off the levels we had developed up to this point were abandoned, while the project was still early and we started to develop a new level.

We changed the theme of the game, the main character is now a treasure hunter, collecting gold treasure from deep underwater. We liked the style that we started to develop and we all came to a solid agreement. We named the game: Submerged.

With the new changes we had to adjust and update our documents to match the new project ideas.

We each took on main roles in the group, these are as follows:

• Myself (Ben) - Backgrounds and menu.
• James - Character and enemy art and animations.
• Emma - Coding and modelling.
• Will - Texturing and modelling.

Of course we didn't lock everyone's involvement and people helped each other so that we could complete a working game, this process just made managing tasks easier. We each completed at least one piece of code and one piece of art. Helping each other throughout so everyone had involvement in most parts of the project.

After creating my share of the work, around month before the deadline I lost everything. My data storage had become corrupt so I personally had to start again and complete my share in time for the deadline.

Below is the result of my new work.

My Coding:

I was in charge of creating a level transition script in case we created a second level. This script would allow the player to travel from one scene to another. When doing this I also added an additional script which created a black fading effect in the transition.

This is the scene I constructed to test the script. The script would be activated once you collide with the red cube. Then it would transport you instantly to the second scene (which is stored in the assets folder).

This is the code to control the fading between scenes, it uses a black texture and has a fade speed which is adjustable. I viewed multiple tutorials trying to find a code to do this which I understood. I think there are multiple methods in which this can be done and I like this specific method. It helped me learn new functions which I previously didn't know and means I should understand them more in future projects.

This code controls the level changing (scene changing) and activates the fading effect when it does so. The highlighted area is the line that actually loads the next scene, the rest is what activates the script when the block is touched and also which activates the fading switch. The load level line is the old method of coding in unity to switch levels, there is a new equivalent which I didn't know about when I originally created the script. This method still works and I'm more familiar with it. I'll try and learn the new method in the future, but while this method still works I think I'll carry on using this.


Shared Coding:

For these pieces of coding I worked together with Will, he created the initial code for the Menu's and I assisted him, we changed the co-ordinates of the buttons and title to make sure that they're in the right place. We then imported the images I had created of the: background, menu, title and buttons. Using these images we linked them to the working buttons to give the the visual appearance we desired.

This is and image of the menu in the unity editor. We had to edit the menu slightly to make the code work.

Menu:

This is the original menu layout I created in Photoshop. We edited the images to match the coding and to create a more simplistic idea. I used special fx to create some cool effects in the scene. The rocks were designed by James, I mainly worked on the title and, menu and buttons. Although I did have involvement in all of it. I like how the style turned out in the end. Everything from the colour palette to the style I thought were visually pleasing.

Backgrounds:

I had to create three different and slightly altered backgrounds. This was in case there were multiple levels or if not, so we could choose a favorite for the level. The below images are the in game background I created.

In the end we chose the first background, it was the most simplistic and suited the level best.

In conclusion I enjoyed this project very much. I've learned value lessons, not only in developing new skills but also in teamwork, communication and taking backups. If I had to change anything it would be to not lose any data. I thought everybody in the team worked well and I'd happily work with them all again. It was a fun project which helped me develop more skills.