Process

Game Art student at Ringling College of Art and Design

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I did the thing :O

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Game Design II

Isometric map and concept sketches for the battle arena project

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Battle Arena Concept

Theme: Gardening

Environment: Inside of Flower Bed

Time/Setting: Daylight, Sunny, “nice picnic day” feel

Pallet Choices: 

 Gameplay Mechanics:

🌻 Watering cans that will water the track which will create mud, slowing the players down.

🌻 Seeds that will grow into sprouts and disturb the terrain of the track. These will either completely block the players or create a maze for them.

🌻 Center piece will be based off a Rafflesia Arnoldii which players can drive up the flower petals like ramps in order to get weapon pickups on the top of them. Speed boosts will be at the beginning of the petals to gain momentum. If the player doesn't gain enough they risk falling into the pit of the flower which will have a kill trigger inside.

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3D for Games

Semi-Final look of my 1958 Willys Pickup for the vehicle project

Still have a lot of material and texture work to tweak at as well as some extra props added to my vehicle

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Game Design II

Trailer for my racing level, Teddy Bear Laceway

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Game Design II

So for my choice for this analysis was Little Big Planet Karting. What first of all attracted me to choose this game was the fact that its a stylized game with an overflow of creativity. The shot featured very few wide shots of the tracks and one of the shots was a birds eye view of the track which I’d like to consider using since my track is specifically shaped like a bow to match my theme. The vast majority of shots in this trailer were wide shots following a group of characters driving through the track, mainly focusing on the multiplayer nature of it. There was also a focus on player attacking other player on various tracks including some insight on the battle arenas in the game. I’d like to use this as reference later on for my own arena. 

Another video I would like to reference is the fake arcade game from the movie Wreck it Wralph, Sugar Rush. The movie did a quick clip of what was an advertisement for the arcade game. 

This fake ad makes it a point to emphasize the characters, customization, track theme, and a USP in the game. Though fake in nature, Disney did put thought on how to properly advertise this fake game to a crowd so I’d like to take some references from it.

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Programming

Particles for my exploding bear

The first particle is one meant for my bear when it explodes. It releases a bunch of stuffing up and outwards along with some mesh parts that belong to the original bear (button eyes and detached arm).

The 3 Emitters in it are:

Stuffing

Bear Arm

Buttons

The second particle is a smoke which I did a more advanced material for seeing as the base color contains a few panning cloud textures. I spent more Photoshop time on this one try to get the clouds to tile and the smoke alpha to look natural.

The 3 Emitters in it are:

Base Smoke

Flying Embers

Darker Soot/Flame Smoke at base

I also experimented outside of this video and created a falling feather particle but its 3 emitters are simply 3 feather materials with different densities. 

My only issues with these particles was that for some odd reason I couldnt get them to activate with my barrel code. I also couldn’t figure out to make the exploding stuffing a one off particle that explodes at timed intervals. I’ll have to look further into this with more tutorials and help from other students.

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Particle Reference

What I want in my particle:

Stuffing (Polyfill / Feathers)

Smoke

Embers

Teddy Bear Parts

Tutorials:

Smoke

Fire/Smoke

Real World Reference:

RIP Mr. Bear :’(

Thoughts:

I will have to make a mesh for the stuffing which I’ll have to mask in order to get the stringyness of polyfill, I’ll do so by making a muli-layer blob.

If I were to go with feather stuffing I’d still have to make a mask but it should be relatively easier since it would just be a curved plane mesh. If I were to go with this choice I’d have to figure out how to make them float downwards in a swaying motion.

I’ll need a GPU smoke sprite, a Ribbon for the embers that will follow the mesh emitter with the stuffing and teddy bear pieces.

I feel as though the most challenging part of this will be getting the angle of debris launching outwards in a way that will make sense and seem natural along with making a decent material for the stuffing mesh. I’m still unsure on whether I want actual light to emit since my own racing level is well lit and the emmissive color from the embers may be enough to pass of as being “light”.

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Programming

Higher Res image of my blueprints for the exploding barrel project

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Programming

Exploding Bear-rel project

Higher Res Blueprint

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Game Design II

Theme: Sewing/Plush Land

I’d like to incorporate several types of sewing supplies as well as use them for game mechanics such as harmful obstacles (scissors, thread) as well as game aesthetic (Measuring tape for fencing, Fabric for race track.

My landmark is most definitely going to be the sewing machine which will be a moving hazard as the needle goes up and down in order to damage the player. Normal sewing machines have multiple settings so I’d like to play with the programming behind having it move in several patterns or at least 3, one for each lap.

Depending on what I can kitbash with the meshes given to us I’d love to include a variation of plushes not just my bear mesh, but like I said I first need to see whats doable with the available resources.

Location and Time: Indoors noon/evening (well lit room) tiny sized players

Sizing similar as that seen in Mario Party, so the player is super tiny and the object surrounding them are much larger in comparison.

Color Scheme:

Id like to use one of the following pallets or a combination of 2, sticking to pastels I will probably use all the dull ones above as the main instead of the vibrant ones. I will be using those for extreme accents such as in landmarks or obstacles.

I took these color choices from some themed rooms in Animal Crossing New Leaf as well as the pallets in the game NintenDogs.

Additional Thoughts:

Personally I’m worried about the length/duration of the track. I’ve added multiple instances of some of my obstacles and I’m not sure whether it’s too much or too little. I personally feel as though my track doesn’t have much in terms of variation but analyzing tracks such as in Mario Kart they aren’t overwhelming in actions going on in the map. Doing the thumbnails made me doubtful of this since several of them are of the same obstacles or just shots from different angles. This feeling may also come from the shape of my track seeing as its not super elaborate and is overall an 8 shaped track with a split area.

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Mario Kart Wii - Peach Gardens

Ironic but not surprising that I chose to do my race game analysis on the course Peach Gardens.

My main attraction to this course is its use of obstacle mechanics.

Chain Chomps

One of the first obstacles you encounter are Chain Chomps one of which is circling slowly around the first roundabout in front of the start line. However, its easy to fail to notice this one in the first lap due to its slow speed where its path starts far behind the players line of sight. 

More Chain Chomps can be found circling around the maze area of the track. Bumping into one of them flips the player over and causes them to lose precious time. After looping through the first time you get a feel of their travel path and even get the chance to notice that an item block trails behind them. This encourages the player to play it a bit unsafe and go after it if the opportunity arises.

Flower Patches

Next the player is introduced to flower patches which if run over/through will slow your kart considerably forcing the player to navigate around them in order to proceed quickly through the course. These patches are used 3 times throughout the track and are placed in ways where the fastest path means drifting the sharp turns.

Killer Moles

Okay maybe not “killer” but towards the end of the track you’ll start going down a dirt path where holes can be seen in the ground, from them Monty Moles will jump up and flip your kart over if you’re caught in their path. They’re animation cycle consists of them popping up, looking around, going down quickly, jumping up, and falling back into their hole. A squeaking sound will play when they jump up in the air.

Pond

A smaller but overlooked obstacle is the pond at the beginning roundabout which exist underneath the bridge in the track. When it gets hectic its possible for a kart to be pushed and fall into it. This results in the kart having to get picked up by the Lakitu and placed back onto the track.

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Programming

Concept sketch and 3D Model for the Explosive Barrel project

I’d like to do a “sewing/plush” themed racing level in which the players are tiny so they’re maneuvering through giant plushes, fabric bolts, thread bobbins, and other general sewing supplies.

When my bear catches fire I’d like to change its expression if possible and when it explodes stuffing, fabric pieces, and it button eyes fly outward.

References:

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Game Design II

Overview and closeups of my Sophomore Platforming Level “Pricks and Poppers”

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Programming

Spiky Block project

I didn’t originally set up the camera shake correctly but I managed to fix it afterwards

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Game Design II

Platformer Level 

This version includes my rolling cacti which were previously not working but are now fixed.

It also includes my amazing platforming skills so enjoy watching me prick myself a few times.