Camera Move

The camera move that I would like to incorporate into the trailer is a spinning shot: Spin! Seeing as we have this awesome god like entity in our project, I think we could have a pretty cool spinning up the body shot. It would also help establish the part of the body that we are in.

Boss Analysis

The boss battle that I analized was Super Mario Sunshine's Petey Piranha Strikes Back. The way this battle is introduced to the player is when you first jump off the windmill onto the roof.

The moment you touch the roof, a cut scene begins. Both Petey Piranha and Mario look around confused before the rooftop crumbles below them. The camera cuts to look up at the roof as it caves in with Mario and Petey Piranha falling past the camera. Once they land, the battle begins! 

 

Petey immediately starts spitting out toxic sludge. In his sludge, the first of his minions comes out.

The little white guy in the image above (usually a transparent green, blue, or red color. When they are getting ready to attack you, they start flashing white) can come out whenever there is sludge on the ground. So not only do you have to pay attention to ol Petey over there, but these little guys too. You can get rid of the sludge by shooting it with your water. If you let it build up too much, the dark creature in the image below will appear out of the sludge and fire sludge balls at you.

Now to fighting Petey. Obviously you have your water companion, so you start shooting him with water. No where is it explicitly stated that you shoot water into his mouth, but after some experimentation of shooting at him, you realize that's the only thing that causes a change for him (he starts flailing and getting fatter). When you fill him up with water, he falls on his back and a red arrow appears above his belly button, very conveniently telling you where to hit him.

After jumping on him three times, he melts into sludge and a cool golden star appears (mine would be gold but I already got it so its translucent blue) and you have officially beaten the boss! 

Mechanics:

The basic mechanics for this level are shooting the water, using the hover nozzle to get around, and slamming Petey on the belly button. 

The mechanics aren't really integrated into the level layout or the level art. The mechanics are in the way that you fight the enemy AIs. The hover nozzle will allow you to fly over both of the minions (even if the smaller one is jumping) for quick kills and cleanup. 

Unlike a lot of boss battles, this one doesn't get any harder the more you damage him. Of the three times you slam him, he is always the same difficulty. The only thing that really changes is how much sludge is on the ground, but that is mostly dependent on how much and fast the player can clean up. 

The reward is a golden star which is the main thing you collect in the game. 

Here is the basic level layout:

and a link to the pdf version of it: Petey Piranha Strikes Back Level Layout

Experimentation

As of this moment, I have two different "toys" that I am working on. I'm trying to come up with a way to combine them, but for the moment they are separate.



Night Vision:
The idea is to turn on your night vision camera and be able to see things that you never had before. The answer to puzzles are now more obvious and items are now collectable. The setting would be an abandoned hydroelectric plant, specifically the basement part. The place is rumored to be haunted, so you've gone to investigate. Obstacles would include things being in the players way and by using the camera, the player can see how to interact with it to move it. I'm also thinking of including certain collectables that charge the night vision. That way it's not just as easy as turning it on whenever you need it.












Phasing:
This idea involves becoming more powerful throughout gameplay so you can phase through denser and thicker materials. For this one, I was picking another underground location, this time a cave. The player is hunting for treasure in these mineral rich mines, however there are a lot of dead ends. By collecting power stones, the player can phase through more materials. At first it would be something like rock and then last the player would be able to phase through something as strong as diamond. Obstacles in this would be the different walls that the player has to phase through.

"Toy" Brainstorming

Essentially, this "toy" is a mechanic that we think would be fun to play with. Here are my ideas:

• Light beams. Basically, I see this as sneaking between areas so the light doesn't touch you. If it does, you die. I was also thinking of throwing in some mirrors so you could redirect the lights to distract you enemies. 
• Phasing. This one would be where you have the ability to phase through various surfaces. 
• Night vision. Using a night vision camera, you can see certain things that you couldn't if it was just the normal camera. 
• Gravity. I'm picturing this one as the character has gravity abilities which they must use to navigate the terrain  and solve puzzles. 
• Hydra. The main goal of this would be to sneak past enemies without killing them. If you do, two pop up in their place. The more enemies, the harder it is to get to your goal. Killing could also be switched out with spotting. 
• Thermo. This would be where you used a camera to see peoples body temperature. You would ask them a series of questions to see if they were lying or not based on spikes. 
• Magnetic grappling. By collecting a certain amount of energy, you would be able to use you magnetic grappling hook to get to places you previously couldn't get to. 
• Energy shields. This is a race against time. You have to get to the end of the level before time runs out while also dodging projectiles. Your one defense is the energy shields. However, the more they get hit, the weaker they are. 
• Phantom. Travel between the earthly and spirit planes while wreaking havoc. 
• Teleportation. Need to get somewhere quick? Use your nifty teleportation abilities. 

Multiplayer Level Layout

For my level, I was thinking something indoors. I like when there is a lot of tight corners to run around and enemies potentially being around every corner.  Also, this will help with closing players off from other areas. It would probably be set in the fall around late afternoon, to get some nice shadows going. I'm thinking that this would be more of an empty office/reception area, where there wouldn't be too much stuff. The architecture will be modern to futuristic. Because its indoors, there wouldn't be any terrain or vegetation. I don't plan on including any windows that you can see out of (this may change). If it does, then probably rolling green hills (maybe fires due to the aliens). I'm going to go with, some sort of alien envision happened. Fortunately for this building, it was on the outskirts of town and the workers had time to evacuate. So besides the occasional paper on the floor, it should be relatively clean. Here are some inspirational images:

The assets that I'll probably need are tables, reception desk, railing, chairs, trashcans, and light fixtures. 

I definitely want some long shadows. 

Multiplayer Analysis: Modern Warfare 3 Dome

Modern Warfare 3 (MW3 for the rest of this post) is Activision 2011 installment installment of the massively popular Call of Duty franchise.  Just like previous games, it focuses on interesting locations where players can duke it out either with friends or by themselves. The level that I will be focusing on is the Dome. The Dome is a Cold War-era bunker in the desert, with a giant dome (get the name) as its center piece.

Its set in modern day, so the bunker is run down. The game is during the daytime, which makes the level very bright. For most of the level, it feels very open. Its set in the desert, so there are wide areas around it that makes it feel open. Also, the way that they keep you from leaving the area are metal fences, which allows you to see out into the "vast" expanse of the desert. There are three major areas to the map: the dome, outside, the office, and the bunker. The dome is the giant radio that is seen on the load screen. It has a cat walk on top and an inside underneath. Seeing as its the center piece, a lot of action goes on around here. In the outside area, there are a lot of barriers and cars to hide behind, but overall there is a lot more space. This is also where enemy and friendly strikes can be called in for the most impact.

The bunker and office area of the map is where a lot of close quarter combat happens. The office is above ground, but the dark walls and narrow hallways make it feel tight and cramped. The bunker underground, which gives it a claustrophobic dark vibe.

The level has a lot of twists and turns with a couple areas funneling action through them. While playing, I realized that a lot of players like to try and set up some sort of traps, be it strikes or just patrolling them. The basic mechanics in this level are shooting, running, throwing grenades, and stabbing. After getting enough points from killing, the player has the ability to set strike packages down. These could be anything from turrets that last a short time to manning a osprey to kill your enemies. Here's a video of game play: MW3 video

Here is my level layout for level: MW3 Dome Level Analysis

Jumpin Jim's Beach Adventure

The working title for my tutorial level is "Jumpin Jim's Beach Adventure." The main conflict in the level would be Jim vs the alligators, which for the sake of my story, have taken over the beach. It'll be set on the beach during the summer between late afternoon and sunset. Prior to Jumpin Jim getting to the beach, the alligators took over causing all the tourist to evacuate, leaving everything behind. Architecture wise, I was thinking having the boss alligator in a lifeguard's stand. Jumpin Jim was having some ice cream near by when he heard the screams. Seeing as he's the only Jumper in town, he rushed off to go help. Here's a link to my rough layout for my level: Jumpin Jim's (rough) Beach Adventure

Cuboy Quest 2

For my analysis of the tutorial level of a platformer game, I choose something not so traditional. Cuboy Quest 2 is a platformer that also involves puzzle solving. After playing through the game, I decided that the first seven levels cover the "tutorial" for the game. The very first level is so basic that I find it brilliant. One of the mechanics of platformers is jumping. That is the only obstacle in the first level. Each of the following levels have simple layouts for the easiest understanding of future gameplay. Level three is set up so that the only way to unlock the door is to ricochet bullets to hit the targets. Level five you must shoot a wooden block out of the air so you can walk across the lava blocks. Its all set up so simply that you understand almost straight away what you need to do to advance. The puzzle aspect of the game allows each level to stay fresh and not get to slow. Not only that, but they aren't very cluttered (the platforms that is) so each level doesn't feel like an eternity. Nothing is handed to the player in the game. In the very first level, you get stuck in the first indention. If you don't jump, you don't move on. Nowhere does it say that, but all the clues are there. That's how most of the game plays. Each level, the obstacle of getting to the exit is present. Each level though, has its own specific challenge. Some are targets that you have to hit to open the doors while others are robots or lava blocks you must avoid. Each level, the obstacles get slightly harder and harder. The only reward really given to the player is that, by getting to the exit, you unlock the next level. There is no story in the game.

Here is the first seven levels:

  

10 Tool Ideas

For programming class, we have to come up with 10 tool ideas that would be useful to our major. Here are my 10:

    1. Combine touching faces. I've had issues before where I'd duplicate a model on accident, delete it, and somehow there would be a few faces left over. And of course because they're touching, I can't see them.
    2. Rotate 90 degrees. Yes, it's easy to do, but I'm lazy and would like a button that when I click, it would rotate the model exactly 90 degrees on whatever axis I choose. Having to move my hand to type in 90 takes time.
    3. Snap pivot to the bottom of a mesh when it's combined. Every time I combine two objects, the pivot goes right back to the origin. That's not helping when I'm modeling away from the origin.
    4. Backwards normals and Ngons. Have a tool that will check if all the normals are facing the right way (basically switching them with conform) and if they're are any Ngons on the model.
    5. Align objects to the same axis. If you need all your objects aligned on x, it'll snap them to it.
    6. Snap object to center of the world. When exporting you put your object center of the world, why not make it easy with a preprogrammed button.
    7. Equal out verts on a single edge. This would make all the verts uniform and easier to manipulate.
    8. Find all one edge verts. When you accidentally hit delete rather than ctrl+delete on an edge, wouldn't it be nice to be able to select all those one edge verts and just delete them?
    9. Move verts around randomly, I see this being helpful when modeling rocks. One quick button and you're already started.
  10. Delete edge. Instead of hitting ctrl+delete, a button that you click so you don't have to move your hands.

Attract Trailer

The Split Second attract trailer I think is really cool. Not only does it set up the location in long sweeping shots, but it also shows off the obstacles that the players will be facing. All of that is even before the race begins. Then it actually shows how those obstacles work. The voice over also let's the viewer know that these aren't just random events that are happening, but are events that the players themselves trigger. The trailer has so much info on the way that the game is player, which I think is great!

Game HUD

We've got to come up with a HUD for our racing level. These are some of the images that I thought were pretty cool.

This is a pic of the speedometer of a 07 Mini Coop.

I also looked up some images of pre existing racing HUDs:

I really liked the lap and time counter on this. Unobtrusive and simple. 

I really like the circular speedometer on this one. 

The amount of info on this one is insane! The rising bar is really cool. 

This is one of the ones that I wanted to try and replicate. The style that is. 

This one was the best one that I found. I love the futuristic look to it. This was my major inspiration. 

Here is the start for mine:

Research For Particle

The main particle that I need for my level is a rocket exhaust smoke particle. The first thing that I decided on was that I wanted the particle to look something like this:

I want the smoke to be pretty straight down until it hits the ground and fans out. I do however, not want to include the fire in my particle. 

My level is a kind of cheesy cartoon pinball level, so I want to try and make it look like that. I decided to go with cel shading for my smoke material.

Here are a couple tutorials that I will be using to create this particle:

eat3D smoke tutorial

3D buzz tutorial

UDK smoke tutorial

Final Destructible Asset

Here's my final destructible asset. I had to switch my idea from a destructible bumper to the coin insert due the bumpers shape. Overall though, I think it worked out. 

Explosion Destruction Inspiration

Trying to find an example of destruction that inspired me was definitely not very difficult. There are plenty of movies that have great scenes where things are just flying everywhere. I wanted a scene though that included a big explosion, seeing as that's something that I would like to include. I Am Number Four has this great explosion scene that fits that bill.

Exploding Bumper Test

Here's my first test (with asset) of my exploding barrel. At the moment all I have to have is the bumper exploding. After some more work, I'm going to have it's "burn state" as a flashing light on the inside. That way the play will know that it's about to go off.

Inspiring Race Intro

When I was looking into different race intros that inspired me, one of the things that got to me was that a lot of the intros just showed landmarks of the track. I'm not saying that it's bad, but I'd be seeing those landmarks in a second. I wanted a little heads up about the obstacles. Get an idea of what I was facing besides the other racers. So when I started looking into intros, I was specifically looking for ones that showed off an obstacle of the track. I think one of the best racing games that has obstacles is Mario Kart, so that's where I started looking. In Mario Kart 7 for the 3DS, there is a level called Shy Guy Bazaar. The opening not only shows two obstacles, but also a reward. Check out the link below to see what I mean:

Shy Guy Bazaar

Exploding Bumper

For my exploding barrel, I want to have the rubber piece on my bumper exploding outward. The "burning state" would be the rubber maybe vibrating. Like the tension is building up. When it explodes the ring would expand out and "break" the rubber.

Beat Sheet

Here's a beat sheet for my level. It was interesting trying out different shots for these trying to find what would work best. I color coded my thumbnails to so I could figure out what is what. 

Red: car

White: walls

Green: speed boost 

Gray: track

Yellow: turns

Blue: bumpers

Light cyan: ramp

Dark cyan: ramp walls

Orange: flippers

Sky blue: sky/open area 

Redo of Racing Level Design

I had a couple problems with my first design for my pinball level, so I reworked it and this one works much better. The one on the bottom is the one that I'm going with. Here's the design: 

I also had to do a beatsheet for my level and here is the first try: 

Stunts and Map

When researching car stunts, the one that most stuck out to me was the car jump. I think it's the most classic stunt you can pull in a car. That being said, my major stunt that I plan to have in my level is a jump. I looked up some classic car jumps and the one that stuck with me was the Blue's Brothers bridge jump scene. Here's the scene here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTOg4aYGtdY  When playing the levels from GAD's 2013 sophomore class, another thing that I liked was obstacles that came up from the ground. I would like to include include these into my level as well. The circular bumpers in pinball machines I think would make a good object for this obstacle.

The two stunts that I plan to incorporate are the jump and moving obstacles.

Everything in my level will push the pinball machine theme. I want this to look like your car has been miniaturized and put in a pinball machine. To do this, I plan to incorporate all the classic pinball elements. The ramps, arrows, and even obstacles will be based on a pinball machine. Rather than time of day, I was thinking that my pinball machine will be inside an arcade. Arcades are usually dark, so only the lights that the machine has itself would be lit. The terrain would be man made materials. Polished metal or smooth, shiny, plastic. For a color scheme, I was thinking black, with a lot of neon accent colors. Here's the idea for the color scheme I want to go for: http://www.romaintrystram.com/

My concept statement: Avoid the obstacles or die trying.

The idea for my level is an old pinball machine that someone decided to revive. They've gone in and added interactive elements to make it more dramatic. So pieces that are usually not interactive or only have limited interaction now are major parts of the game. Due to the added interactions, as you progress around the laps, more and more things become interactive. I plan the first lap to be pretty straight forward, then each lap becomes harder due to more interactive pieces. The first thing that will happen when racing around the level is actually on the second lap. When going over the ramp (for the first time due to the design of the laps) the car sets off a trigger that causes the middle of the bridge to collapse. Going around for the third lap, the car will hit another trigger that will cause all the circle bumpers to lower and rise from the ground randomly. I plan to make the jump very cinematic looking so it'll be the main focus.

The way that I originally had my layout was a figure 8, but it didn't let me incorporate all my obstacles smoothly. So what I did was make it so that the first lap is like an upside down question mark, the second is a figure 8, and the third is an upside down hook. Each lap an obstacle or barrier will appear that causes the track to change shape. The first lap will be simple driving, the second will have the bridge blowing up and the jump, and the third will having moving obstacles. The major terrain features will be the ramp/jump, the moving bumpers, and the flickers. Seeing as this is a pinball machine, I plan to incorporate a lot of light up arrows that will direct the player. You see a lot of them in actual pinball machines so I thought it would translate well.