Above is my completed game level and a fly through of what i have created. the quality is really fuzzy for some reason even though i recorded into fraps and it defaults to HD.

Assignment Sum Up

To sum up this assignment i would have to say i really enjoyed creating everybit of it. the blogging was a tad annoying to keep up with but in the end after i finished an asset i would just update the blog to avoid confusing myself with what i had left to do. I really enjoy making levels with unity, i would have to say creating the particles and editing terrains is what i enjoyed the most because there can be a lot of variety with what you can make. The only problem that i encountered was modelling the sarcophagus, when i finished it in max and exported the FBX into unity only the coffin would show up and not the actual top piece, along with that the Army Tents were also texturless because of some unknown reason so thats why only 1 of the tent logs has been textured i spent around 20mins trying to work it out but could'nt find anything to fix it. With the whole desert setting i used a fog modifier and coloured it brown to give off the feel of exploration as your going into the unknown. To improve on the level i would have added a particle effect above the player to give off more of a sandstorm feel, i would have made another pyramid and a completly different catacomb sytle if i had the extra time. When filming my level i forgot that i still had a couple of assets to add in especially the tumbleweed. As for lighting in my level i didnt see the need to add it because most of the setting was outside and the only indoor bits were the pyramid exploration, which has the open door meaning that the sun will shine in and illuminate the room. For making trees i thought it would be suitable to include a couple of palm trees for an oasis i put this in the middle of the level as a nice scenery change.

Low Priority Assets Complete :D

As of now the assets for the low priority have been completed i had to cut out a few because they were driving me nuts trying to model, i had completed a cactus model but 3ds max crashed and i was left with nothing so i gave up on that and replaced it with the bush scrubs, my favourite objects would have to be the gemstones and when finished with particle effects the camp fire.

Low Priority Asset - Bush Scrub

The bush scrub was created by using the default terrain assets kit that was supplied to us by justin. these are dotted all around the map and give it life.

Low Priority Asset - TumbleWeed

For the tumbleweed i was going to make it an editable poly and then move around the vertices but then i remember being taught the noise modifier, so i went with that and created this tumbleweed. The tuxturing was done by the material editor and a tumbleweed picture from the net. these are found randomly rolling down the terrain in the level.

Low Priority Assets - Gemstones

The gemstones were created using 2 cones, one that was extended for the base of the gem and the other cone was made for the top part as you can see in the top picture. For the texturing i made use of gemstone texture and just used the material editor because they worked either way. these are located next to the sarcophagus and are just to make the room feel full.

Low Priority Asset - Camp Fire

The camp fire asset was created by using a cylinder and duplicating it, and then making a plane for the coals. The texturing was done using uvw unwrap, i used a log texture for the rounded part and then a cut log texture for the stump of the log. for the coals i just used a coal picture and moved it to better suit the design. In the game this is placed in the enemy camp and i will add a fire particle effect to give it a warming feel and to show that its actually a lit campfire

Low Priority Asset - Sarcophagus

The first of the low assets i created was the sarcophagus which lays in the centre of the pyramid tomb. This asset was a bit tricky for me to make hence why it looks a bit wierd but i think i did a good job. Again i started with a box and then did extrusions and bevels. For the figure on the sarcophagus i cut around the high part and then extruded those parts to shape the figure. For the texturing i used a uvw unwrap and included a stone/egyptian hieroglyhpics wall art and tutankhamans headstone.

Medium Priority Assets Complete :D

I never thought i could bust out so much work in one day :). Today i finished texturing and modelling 3/4 of my medium level assets and many of my low assets, i really enjoyed texturing these because i knew exactly what i wanted and where i wanted the texture to be placed, and i have become more competant at using the uvw unwrap tool. My favourite asset from this collection would have to be either the taliban symbol or the computer.

Medium Priority Asset - Mission Report Laptop

Again another model that i really enjoyed to texture was the mission report laptop that is placed just outside the hospital, with this machine you can access files to get your new mission from base. i modelled this using a box then cutting along the folding bit of a laptop and then rotated a bit then extruded the rest of the box to make the upper screen of the laptop. For the texturing process i tried to do a normal material edit but i had to finish it up by using the uvw unwrap and adjusting the vertexs to fit the laptop.

Medium Priority Assets - Palm Trees

The next asset was not created by me it was created using the unity tree creator. i choose to use a palm tree because i have a small oasis in the middle of my level and i wanted to give it a tropical feel to it so i went with a palm tree because they seem to symbolize tropical settings.

Medium Priority Asset - Wall Box

Above is my wall puzzle box that you must solve to unlock the ancient weapon, this is placed just above the sarcophagus. i used a small box and just uvw unwrapped the puzzle texture over the top and i think it suits the whole egypt feel very nice.

Medium Priority Asset - Taliban Symbol

The next asset is definetly one of the ones i enjoyed to model. The reason is because it involved alot of positioning of the vertexs, and the texturing for the guns and the skull symbol. To create the guns i did what i did with the lara croft gun and started with a box while extruding and insetting points to extend on. when it came to texturing i found a ak47 picture and uvw unwrapped it to perfectly fit the gun. the next step was creating the base on where the symbol should sit, i did this by creating a cone but not extending it to make its point, i then applied the skull texture to it using uvw unwrap. This symbol is on the front of the hospital building and planted along the ground, on pillars, and in the pyramids.

Medium Priority Asset - Army Tent

The next asset i created was the army tent. i used planes and cylinders to give it the shape. It was a suprisngly simple model to create and i am happy with the result. the only problem i had with it for some reason was the texturing, as you can see the poles that support the tent are made from a wooden texture and the actual tent material is a cream cloth material. i am really dissapointed that the full uvw unwrap didnt work for this model because it would look great in the game.

Medium Priority Asset - Wall/Pit Trap

The first of the medium assets that i created and textured is the wall and pit traps that are located in the pyramids. These were made using a box and then extruding it and using the cut tool to do the other 3 sides. The spikes were created by using the cone tool and i just duplicated them into the rows. for the Texturing i used a stainless steel metal covering for the spikes and the pyramid wall texture for the case of the trap.

High Priority Assets Complete :D

After many days of working on the high priority assets i finally completed all of them. To sum it up i really enjoyed modelling and texturing all of my assets and i am very proud of my work. During the texturing phase i had a couple of problems, one of my main ones was the editable poly still being turned on and that didn't allow me to select any faces to texture. By creating these assets i wanted to give the feel of adventure and the setting being egyptian so i tried to include a lot of egyptian art including hieroglyphs and a sarcophagus. I learnt alot by modelling i started to use less of the cut tool and relied more on the inset and bevel tools to create more shapes. While doing extrusions on cylinder it didnt work my way because it would start on rounded and when extruded it would turn off the smooth option and you could see the actual polygons

High Priority Asset - Crumbled Pillar

The last high asset i created was the crumbled pillars. These are dotted near the temple entrance and in random areas in the map showing that there was once a civilisation in the desert. I used 2 boxes and converted it into editable polys, i was going to choose the modifier noise but i decided just to go with the vertex option. i moved the outer ones and top ones to give it the bumpiness as the pillar had broken in half or something.

High Priority Asset - Pillar

Above is the entrance pillar leading towards the pyramid, there are 6 of them placed in 3x2 area. to create the base i used a box and added to it with extrusions and bevels. for the texturing i made my own one in photoshop by looking up hieroglyphic art and just drew them on a brown texture to give off the rock/stone pillar feel.

High Priority Asset - Ancient Weapon

The next assets i chose to model was the Ancient Weapon known as the grayyarg. for this is used a box and did extrusions and inset/bevels. for the texturing i used uvw unwrap and a ak47 skin and wrapped it around the back/handle/ammo clip. the reason its only the front half has the bend is because it sits in a wall and when it comes out the bend extends out. the bend is where the rifle channels its power from.

High Priority Asset - Sun Dial

The sun dial base was created by using boxes and then editing it with inset and the bevel tool, for the centre piece i used a cylinder and for the dial base i used a cone and attached to the base.for the texturing i choose concrete for the base and cylinder parts, a sandstone texture for the top part and i found the actual sundial icon on google and uvw unwrapped and scaled it to fit the top part. for the actual dial i used an obsidian texture to make it look like rock or ancient rock. This is placed in the centre of the first grand pyramid.

High Priority Asset - Characters Gun

This is the main character weapon of choice a pistol, this was created in semester 1 of the course and i thought it would be a great addition to my game to show how far my work has come along. the gun was created by using extrusion, bevels, and many insets. The texturing was done by using the uvw unwrap and the gun skin was supplied to me by justin.

High Priority Asset - Hospital

The hospital building that i created was made from 1 box and 4 other boxes that were scaled and rotated to make the entrance inside the brick structure. for the texturing again i used a uvw unwrap as for trying to find the right textures to fit it was really hard and had to go with a brick base and the building window texture just above. the render of the fully textured building for some reason didnt show the final product which is why i showed what texture i actually used above.

High Priority Asset - Great Pyramid 1

Above are the pictures of the first great pyramids. i created these using the basic pyramid tool and then using the cut tool in the editable poly options to create the entrance into the catacombs. To create the texturing i used the uvw unwrap tool and used a pyramid texture from the internet.

HIgh Priority Asset - Mysterious Note

The mysterious note is one of the first items you encounter on the jouney. i created this asset by using a plane and turning it into an editable poly then adjusting the vertices in the edit vertice mode. when it came to texturing i used the uvw unwrap to adjust where the writing was going to be placed. above are note untextured, and the note fully textured.

Terrain Choices

While deciding the setting for my game level i ended up choosing a desert themed setting which would be set around the Egyptian and Middle Eastern area. The area is mostly flat and windswept, this is coupled with various sand dunes and lower than usual ground. Out the front of the hospital will have small dunes but mostly flat, as you move along to the pyramids you start to see more of then dunes and lower ground start to appear. around the enemy encampment the terrain starts to get more rugged as a lot of vehicles and heavy machinery have moved through to find the Ancient Weapon. Where the pyramids sit in the desert i have lowered the ground for that to perfectly fit the pyramids tomb which is attached to the pyramid, i choose to do it this way because your character can search the front of the door and enter it directly without and editing to the terrain to much. I chose to stick with these because this is best suited to a middle eastern themed game where the terrain is nearly the same as what the deserts and savanhas are like. Below is a complete view of the terrain for my game level, including the dunes and low ground, i have also added in a fog setting and set it to a light brown fog to show that your in the desert. I choose a dusk skybox to give the desert more of a deep feel.

Textures/Special Effects/Music/SFX

Textures

Cut Log Front
Log Skin
Fire Coal
Sand
Broken Path
Pyramid Skin
Heiroglyphs Print
Sarcophagus Layer
Jar Skin
Sapphire/Emerald/Ruby/Diamond Skins
Pillar
Ruined Pillar
Sun Dial Base
Hospital Front
Explosion Hole
Rust
Dust
Gun Skin
Info Screen
Cream Tent
Obsidian Wall
Bronze
Silver
Metal
Tumbleweed Skin
Blood
Rock
Puzzle Pieces

Special Effects

Fire (campfire at the enemies base)
Small Sandstorm (around the level more common in the outskirts of the hospital)
Sparkle (oasis shine)
Smoke (In the pyramid to give of a evil feel)
Heavy Sandstorm (Boundarys of the level)
Mist (around the enemy camp to give a dark feel)

Music

Egyptian Praying
Hospital Radio
Gerudo Desert Theme (Quiet, BGM, calming feeling, gives off an exploration feel)
Desert Wind/Breeze
Dark/Heavy Music (pyramid catacombs, track still to be decided)

SFX

Gunfire (at enemy base)
Trees Rustling (oasis, enemy base)
Gun Shooting (enemy base)
Scratching (something scratching on the pyramid insides)
Wall Trap Effects (whoosh effect to show them popping out)
Oasis Water Stream (water effect to show a moving stream)
Ding SFX (when you unlock the sun dial puzzle)
Transform SFX (robotic feel to show it changing and its power, used on the ancient weapon)
Introduction (voice over showing how to control and navigate the map)

Low Priority Assets

Bush scrubs - scenery

Campfire - this is in the middle of the enemies campsite

Tumble Weed - Randomly rolling around at the start of the game

Sarcophagus - Centre piece of the pyramid insides

Gemstone - These are inside the pyramids

Medium Priority Assets

Wall/Pit Traps - These are planted at the beginning of each of the pyramids, you must get past them quickly

Taliban Symbol - This mark is placed on all buildings as a sign of power

Palm Trees - These surround the bad guys camp and are surround a nearby oasis near the start

Mission report computer - you get your missions from this computer which are sent from base this is found outside the hospital

Wall Puzzle - In the first pyramid just before the guardian door there is a small puzzle box to complete

Enemy Tents - These are where the enemies spawn out of

High Priority Assets

Mysterious Note - This is seen when you start the game next to the character on table

Hospital Building - This is seen when you walk outside and look towards the hospital

Entrance Pillars - These pillars are seen when walking towards the great pyramids

Crumbled Pillars - Located out the front of the pyramids due to old age they have weathered away

Ancient Weapon - This weapon is located in the smaller of the pyramids it holds immense power

Pyramid - One is located on the map and hold a special item

Sun Dial - This sun dial points the way towards the ancient weapon when touched, other pop up when one is touched

Character Gun - This is the main character gun

Game Map

Above is the game map for my game.

You start off in the brown area which is the hospitals cave, the hospital resides next to a cliff face and the employees have dug a secret cavern for the special cases they get. the white building is the hospital building. After waking up you walk out side and see the destruction that has occured. The pink figure out the front of the hospital is where you start when you walk outside for the first time, the small grey box next to you is your gun that you have to pick up. The blue building is where you get your mission reports and status of your character. As you continue with the story you end up at the golden blocked area which are the ruins to the ancient pyramids, from this point enemies from the red blocks come out to ambush you and try to take you back to there leader. Inside the big pyramid lies many booby traps and puzzles, as you get to the end of the first pyramid you find out about the ancient gear created by the Egyptian gods. After you discover the whereabouts of the gear you travel to the second pyramid where you find Master Ish who has resurrected and mind controlled the ancient god Anubis. The red boxes are Master Ish's camping ground where he sends his men to fight you it is surronded by the black line which is a giant wall and gate. As you defeat Ish your next job is to return the ancient gear back to the temple to securly lock it away.

Gamplay Mechanics

Mechanic 1 - The first mechanic of the game is the exploring, while your main task is to kill the taliban you also have to find clues about what really happened when the NATO invaded. Along your jounrey you will be finding notes and journal entries from scattered US/British solidiers and taliban members which give you the real insight, from the US/british side you see that they were slowly brainwashed into killing everything in there sight, but from the taliban side which is the truth you see that the Grayyarg needs fall into the right hands so that the bloodshed can be resolved.

Mechanic 2 - The second mechanic is Shooting. At first you start out with just your fists but as you leave the hospital you find a gun. you need to be on the lookout for the enemy and quickly take them out before they kill you. Ammo packs will be scattered around the maps so you have to either evade or craftily shoot down the enemies.

Mechanic 3 - Risk and Reward. The taliban special ops who specialise in close combat and seems to dodge alot of bullets are non agressive but when confronted they wont stop attacking you untill you kill them, if you manage to kill one of these special ops they drop powerful items and upgrades to your gun which can make it shoot faster or increase the clip size. But if you die to them its game over and you have to start your adventure all over again

Backstory, Environments and Characters

Backstory - Before the events of the 2018 world war 3, the American and British military generals had found ancient plans dating back to the ancient egyptian dates. they realised that one of the pyramids of giza held the remains of an ancient weapon the Grayyarg. This ancient weapon is capable to destroying cities and disintegrating nations in a single blow, it is built like a machine gun and has bayonet spears attached to the sides which have unbreakable ropes that can pull the latched target towards you. After finding out about this information the militarys headed off to the great pyramids in search of this ancient weapon, the taliban's intel spies quickly catch onto the case. upon hearing the results of the ancient weapon they quickly gathered all of thier troops to search the great pyramids and this escalated into the third world war, the big city of egypt was destroyed in just over 2 days and each of the pyramids were ransacked by the egyptians. as it approaches 2024 the combined forces of America and Great Britain had driven out the taliban and destroyed nearly all of the middle east with no traces of the Grayyarg, with nearly all signs of life wiped out one last hope to find the weapon lays in the hands of sargeant Lucien, after his squad was ambushed in afghanistan he was severly injured and taken back the the only egyptian hospital which was located deep underground. The paramedics and nurses quickly began to heal him, but one night a mystical chilled breeze swept into the hospital which landed a note next to Lucien. The hospital top has been ripped open by rockets and anti air missles which has resulted in the building about to collapse.

Environment -the environment of the game is set in egypt, so there will be sand gravel/concrete paths the wind will also create very large sand dunes and pits. You start off in the underground hospital which only contains you, the hospital Maid Reiuji, beside table were you find the note, and the dripper that is keeping you alive. as you walk outside you see the great pyramids of giza and as you look behind the nearly collapsing hospital which has rockets explosion marks. There are egyptian pillars lying around fallen over from the conflict, some are standing and crumbling, while the other ones are keeping the pyramid doors from collapsing. As you enter the pyramid chambers, there are many spike and pit traps and in the middle of the chamber is a sun dial which has in heiroglyphics Grayyarg.

Character Descriptions -

Sargeant Lucien. Lucien is a kind hearted young man who was enlisted into the military because of his ability to think and outsmart the enemy militia. He is from America and is incredibly fit. When he engages the enemy his kindness is completly gone and he becomes the most aggresive commando in the military.

Maid Reiuji - Reiuji is a hot headed young nurse/maid, she is in charge of the underground hospital organisation in egypt. In the events of WW3 all of her fellow friends were killed as they were escaping from the terror, since then she has been on the lookout for wounded soldiers to rescue. one night she found Lucien on the river banks of the nile, she saw alot of hope in him and rescued him and restored him to health. On that night a mystical wind whoosed in a note that fell between him and the bed.

Master Ish - Master Ish is the leader of the newly reformed Taliban, he is a quiet leader who has the brains of a supercomputer. He always has his henchmen standing close guarding him as his close combat skills are crap. He has a plasma rifle that when it hits its target melts anything it touches.

Concept for original game - discussing theme and methods used to develop

 My game that i have come up with is a /action/adventure game

Story - You've woken up in the year 2024 in the middle east, in a small hospital. The area around you has been more worn torn than ever from the events of the third world war that happened in 2018. Everyone in the middle east has been wiped out as a result but you are yet to find out. A note left beside you bedside table tells you very accurate instructions that you must follow if you are to uncover the truths of the world's current state.

Theme - At first the game is peaceful but as you start to expand your journey you find out how twisted the governments of the world are, when you first start your journey you are bombarded with enemy artillery which is actually the NATO's. the game progresses into a more dark and sinister game when you are reaching the final stages.

How does a game’s genre affect the way its levels and environments are designed?

Pokemon - Pokemon is a RPG game created by Nintendo. In RPGs games the key role is to level your character up, in pokemon this is done by having 1-6 different types of pokemon and battling other trainers in the game, you are awarded experience points for each one defeated, as you progress through the game you encounter the enemy team which is the main objective to take out (other than the elite 4 and become champion) the goal in this usually involves a legendary pokemon at the end of the quest, which is where the risk reward is. the legendary is usually a couple of levels in front of you and has really powerful moves, to counter this you have to prepare with different types of pokemon and find ways to lower the legendary down to low health to capture it or to kill it. The elite four is always levels ahead of you and the champion always has a variety of pokemon, so you much train your team to counter all of the types. there can be risk in pokemon where you would only train one or two pokemon because for some the grinding of training all six is to great.

Binding of Isaac - Binding of Isaac is an action adventure/dungeon crawl videogame. In the game you are a small kid whos aim is to defeat your mother, the only way to do this is to collect over 200 items that can change how you look and give you different abilities. The main aim of the game is to first defeat your mother in the dungeons, and then afetr travelling to the womb you must defeat her heart to complety win the game. the risk reward system in the game is very promising because you start with only 3 hearts and the enemies normally damage you for at least 1 heart, there are also some characters that give different starting abilities. the challenge mode in the game can be very hard especially the curse of the Labyrinth which makes the dungeon 2x larger and everything is doubled so in the end you vs mother twice.

BIT TRIP RUNNER - BIT TRIP RUNNER is a fast paced platformer game. In the game you must jump and duck over and under obstacles while collecting all the gold piles. as the game progresses through the levels you can collect stars which change the music of the level and add different beats into it. The objective in the game is to collect the gold piles and reach the end of the level in full star mode for maximum points. The risk reward in this game is caused from trying to collect the gold piles while attempting to dodge and duck under the obstacles, the game requires very good timing with the jump keys and can be frustrating when you miss a jump.

Compare and contrast the environment and levels in one game from the 80s, 90s, and 2004 onwards

Game from the 80s = Donkey Kong
Game from the 90s = Super Mario World
Game from 2004+  = Zelda Twilight Princess

Donkey Kong has 4 stages in the game each one gets increasingly more difficult as you progress, in a platformer game the need for difficulty increase was a key factor. The levels in Donkey Kong were not detailed, this made for linear gameplay compared to Zelda Twilight Princess where  the levels were open and you could explore enormous regions. The environment of Donkey Kong was primarily a construction site where DK would be sitting at the top throwing barrels down while mario tried to catch the princess, the main game had 4 stages each one would get smaller and more events would be happening in it. When the final stage was beaten the game would put you back at stage 1 but the game would be harder as the barrels would fall faster and platforms would be smaller.

In Super Mario World the environment was more detailed because the snes could support more memory and thus more graphics, each stage had a different background and some would be the same background but with the different colour style. The stages in Mario Land were linear but some stages had secret exits that could be found high in the sky or under water, it also introduced different worlds which you could visit ghost houses were seen as a midway point into the games world. compared to Donkey Kong and the older 80s games there were not many levels/stages in them, and they would loop back to the start when completed.

Zelda Twilight Princess released on the Nintendo Gamecube/Nintendo Wii was a massive zelda game that had mini quests and a lot of exploring. Because of the newer technologys in the 2006 era the games art style had a major overhaul compared to the earlier games, the levels had become more detailed and this made for more puzzles to be added within the dungeons and overworld. Twilight Princess also had alot of different environments from castles to underwater Labyrinths each one was done to make the theme and feel of the game. Each level in zelda or dungeon would get increasingly more difficult as the game progressed and involved the items that you had acquired in the previous dungeons.

All of the games that i have mentioned above share the same characteristic with there levels, it is that each one gets much more difficult to beat. As the producers got more technology they could create the levels with more depth and give the game more sparks to create complex levels that made the user think how to pass it. With DK there would be only one way to the finish level, but with SMW there was multiple ways to get into Bowsers castle and beat him, there was the extra stages of the star world which needed secret exits from the over world, but inside Bowsers castle there were 8 doors that you could choose to go in each one had there own way of beating it, then another 8 doors would appear and the same would happen again. In Twilight Princess there were mini games which could upgrade your existing items but each stage was hard. The mini quests were used to get more hearts and always required you to do moderatly hard tasks.

The environments in the games went from very basic plain colors to very detailed environments, you could actually tell whether you were venturing in a forest or exploring a cave system. Donkey Kong's environment was a construction site which could be told from the steel girders and the ladders leading up to the different heights. SMW improved on this by making different background which suited what level you were playing in, if you were running in a cave system the background would have a cave design the obstacles in the game were also more detailed, you could easily see if it was dangerous. In Twilight Princess environments had been heavily improved on, each area had been done into the finest detail, if you were in a cave system the lighting in the area would be dull and there would be rocks everywhere, if you were swimming underwater then seeweed/fish and other small aquatic creatures would be in the area, this gave the game a more lively aspect to it.

Design a game with the technology limitations of the 1980s

Game Name - Falling Debris (designed for the NES)

Gameplay 

You are a average size 16 bit character and your mission is to avoid the falling Debris coming off of the nearby buildings. As you avoid more and more pieces of rubble the building starts to suffer heavy decay and the blocks get bigger and fall slightly faster every 30seconds. Your score goes up one for every piece that is evaded and every 50 points you are given 1 extra life, you start off with 3 lives and when all are lost you get game over and a chance to enter your name and score into the highscores.

Like most games from the NES it has to game options a type a and type b, also it is a 2 player game. The Type A  game is a much slower and peaceful build up to the madness that is to come when you survive longer. The Type B game puts you on the stage as if you've been dodging for 3minutes, this makes for quick and fast paced gameplay, which is great if you have friends over because you get the rush to see who can survive the longest

In the 2 player game both of the players are on the screen and you compete for the most dodges, there are also small powerups that fall down occasionally in the 2 player game, which can increase speed or give you an extra score. There are no lives in the 2 player game so its a battle to the death and who can get the top score.