For the past two semesters I've been product owner on a third and fourth semester game design project. Originally it was meant to be created using the Unreal Engine. By the end of the first semester's worth or production we had something very near a complete alpha. However, at the start of production for the second semester it was determined that we would switch from the Unreal Engine to the Unity 3d Engine. The change was made in large part due to the need of our programmers and animators to be able to have an easier way to import assets into the game. In the following 16 weeks we met and surpassed what we had in the Unreal Engine and now have the game at a beta state.
During the first semester of production on Bad Drop I was the environment guy. I created the map, outposts and environmental props. I also spent time placing the default Unreal enemy 'bots' around the map and setting up the pathing that they would follow.
A large portion of the time I spent on the project during the first semester was spent on creating the full design wiki for the game. It includes all enemy stats, the placement of enemies, the types of augments, the variations in power of the augments and the original concept of the game.
When we switched over to Unity during the second semester of production I needed to recreate the map that the player would interact with. Before my idea had been chosen by the group we had to create a short design for our game and present it. Out of the three design that had been presented mine was chosen. During that time when I had been creating that original idea and design I had created a simple mock-up using 3ds Max. It was relatively simple to import that file directly into Unity, saving myself, and the rest of the team, time on getting a working map up and working.
Early in the project I also model, rigged and unwrapped the medium enemy used in the game. This gave us a simple enemy that we could begin testing animations and importing with. The original design for the medium enemy was created by Evan Thompson, an intern that we borrowed from the 2d department. The enemy was later textured by Luke and then animated by Brett.
Out of the many things that I worked on during the project, creating the main weapon, the BFG, was by far the most fun. The game became based around what the player could do with this weapon and needed to reflect that. It was during the process of modeling this weapon that I decided that, in regards to creating assets in game production, I am a low poly modeler. Even though the BFG seems to be highly detailed the final weapon has less than 2k polygons.
During the second semester of classes I worked on the Caesium Project with the second semester class. My main role in this was Animation Lead and much of the time I spent helping out those animators on my team which needed it. Task wise I was always busy working on various models and textures as well as making a large number of the game screens.
As Animation Lead for Caesium I ran the animation team, trouble shooting and solving as many animation and art impediments as I could. My early tasks included creating one of the simple enemies that had been approved through concept and creating an art pipeline document. To that end I modeled, rigged, animated, and textured the BombBat.
This allowed our programmers to being testing code and troubleshooting a large number of the problems that always arise with importing assets and code to an engine. I also modeled the main boss that the player would end up fighting against at the end of the game. During the first sprint I worked on him, the BombBat, the various gameplay screens, and created the art pipeline.
Most, if not all, of the concept art for Caesium was create by Jose, as was the texture on the final boss.
During the second sprint I was mainly focused on rigging a number of characters, modeling the Tri-Pod enemy and creating the in game tutorial 'thought' bubbles. As a team we began to see just how big the game was going to be, but we ended up having more than enough time to get all of the animation assets into the game.
When we began porting to the Andriod during the third sprint it turned out that we were unable to use the terrain editor in Unity and were forced to create the map in 3ds Max. I recreated a near copy of the terrain we had in Unity in 3ds Max and we then used that mesh in the engine. I also created the animations for the main boss and added armor to him per the design request from Seth, the product owner. As the player dealt damage to the boss he would lose pieces of armor to visually show that he was growing weaker.
One of the last things that I added to the game was the set of statues for indicating where the power-ups were located.
Overall this was a good experience for me. Serving as a lead was a challenge for me since I prefer to work alone and would rather be given a task than hand out tasks than be in a management position.
This semester I worked with both the third and first semester students. With the first semester students, in CSG Production, we were tasked with going through tutorials as well as working as a team to create a game using assets from the various tutorials we had completed.
I was on team Alpha, Consisting of myself, Mike, Jenna, Katie, Joe, Ben, Rafael, Brandon, and Nick. We decided to create a side scrolling 2D shooter using the 3D assets. The player would travel through various levels fighting ever stronger enemies as they progressed.
My tasks for the game, after taking the role of Product Owner, was to create the game design document and then fill any other role that needed filling. This included modeling assets and making decisions that determined the final appearance of the game.
One of the first things that I was assigned for the game was to get a gun for us to use. Originally Rafael an Joe were tasked with finding a weapon for us to use, however we then had a gun with over 300k polygons. The gun was then handed to me and in the end I completely remodeled a new gun using the shape and outline of the original. I then textured the gun using a simple template.
After finishing the gun I was then tasked with creating backgrounds for the Biosphere, Living Quarters and the Elevator.
Around this point many of the needed parts of the game were found and starting to be implemented. One of the things that was still needed and we did not have a pre-made object for was the ceiling turret. I took the floor turret that we had and took it apart, then created a base for it and re textured it.
The last main thing that I worked on was the credits page.
Throughout the project I moved between teams and approved various items. I also worked with most of the team members when I could and helped resolved as many errors as possible.
During this semester I worked as an intern for the second semester class that was making a Super Smash Bros. style game using the Unity engine. I worked in various areas, starting with the environment team and then was switched over to the character team. I was also somehow cast as Lead Design for the game, basically in charge of systems design. In keeping with how the game was constructed my final report is going to be bouncing around the game, giving a review of what I did in the Development of the student created game Lab Brawl.
The first week into the project when discussing the things that needed to be created and implemented into the game we spoke briefly on the idea of a story line, which is nearly non-existent in Super Smash Bros. We agree that this was not something that was needed, but if someone wanted to create one to do so in the design document.
The next day I gave a brief overview of a possible story-line and then added it to the design document, which i was able to change and modify as needed as Lead Design. The story line was not used in the final build, but it covered two separate story lines. One for the scientist character and on for the other three characters which were supposedly mutated animals. It consisted of victory and defeat scenarios for each character, including very painful deaths if the player failed to defeat the final boss, called Chimera, while playing as the scientist.
The first team that I was assigned to work with was the environment team. The first item of business having been a stage to fight on, or rather, in. As one of the core game elements was to be that the game stage rotated the stage itself had to be playable from all sides. To allow this type of gameplay I created a box with various tables and boxes, as place holders for cages, in 3Ds Max. This was used as the main arena with the characters fighting inside of it. I also created two platforms that, though not used in the final build, could be placed and used as floating platforms to avoid the effects of the spinning level.
I also created a short animation and created the background for the start screen. After having created these I was changed over to the character team.
The first thing that was needed was to create a rig for the characters, so i created a base rig to fit a base mesh character which had been made. There were a few problems with the base mesh which needed to be fixed and after which I gave this base mesh back to the other character modelers to shape and expand on to fit both the character Ratenstien(speed) and Catrina(balanced). I then created a simple rig to fit the base mesh character which could be shaped and placed inside of the edited meshes and then tweaked to match the new meshes and then be used to animate.
I was then tasked with setting up all of the damage points and percent damage for attacks in the design document. I created the class layout portion in the design document as well as the combat movement section, defining what controls would be linked to that movement, including base movement, attacks, and special abilities. Though I did not create the initial set-up for the power-ups I determined what they would do and by what strength they would perform at.
After having revised the rigs for Ratenstien and Catrina and creating one for Army-Dillo(power) I was tasked with modeling the Chimera(boss). It took me a few days to model the Chimera fully, since the addition of two more heads and what would have to be an animatable tail and pair of wings are not simple, and then had to find the best way to rig the character. After having made the bones and skinned them to the mesh I proceeded to set-up controllers for the wings to make them easier to animate. Following that I spent a large chunk of time animating him, constantly referring to the pipeline animation document for the order of his attacks, though not the same timeline. I also left out a few of the animations which weren't needed for him, as he was the boss and something ledge grab made little sense for him to have, especially when he had massive to lift himself back onto the stage if he fell off.
(images/videos of Chimera)
By the end of the time spent on the Chimera he had a texture, color map, full animations and full movement of his wings, tail, heads, and the rest of his body.
For my internship I needed a total of 60 hours. Between making Lab Brawl and working with the fourth semester game design students I have well over the needed amount, though I've lost track of the actual number of hours.
