Jacob Daniel Simpson (Sev)

1st Year games Design student, massive Blizzard fan boy and open about it too. UCLAN cheerleader fitness lover to match.

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The final product was something the entire team was happy with, more than happy with! The arrow, enemies and arena felt great while in the VR and having over 15 different people playtest it, all 15 said they really enjoyed the experience and would play again especially if it had more levels or items to use!

You can see the final product here, a short trailer we made for the game!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvDeMWPGW_E&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0uVzNsrERHfvJ-HEPIgr-qFj2vYzPd1oZYxAEQ8lRPn3T6znFHtoDBaxk

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Landing on the idea of Magma Defence we had to jump straight into it.

I was project lead for this assignment and wanted to keep the art style fun and accessible, so some environments were designed off Spyro, Runescape and World of Warcraft.

I also had to develop the Blueprints for this game which was my first real wall I ran into with the software, I designed a wave system, triple shot arrows and lots more blueprints from timers, health system, game modes, tutorial levels, difficulty and more.

We got a good start with the low poly style and it ended up being an amazing project to work on for 3 weeks.

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For the FINAL project of the year we had to design a game within VR. These posts are all progress to the final project.

First we came up with the idea of using the studio we work within to make a horror experience, giving the player the feeling of that the second they put the headset on they would still be in the studio but with a huge twist.

Sadly we scrapped the idea 3 days into development due to a lot of issues, some being the following: 1. Too many models to be produced for the 3 week space of time we had 2. Not everyone was on board in the group for the idea 3. We felt like we needed a more interactive game rather than a walking sim and wanted to utilise UE4 to its potential.

This ended with us going with the final idea, “Magma Defence” which is a Runescape inspired game where you use a bow & arrow to hold off waves of monsters from a castle, but with more intense game-play.

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Following on from the previous post, this level takes dark turns, and twists inspired from games like, P.T Demo Resident Evil 1 & 2 and Layers of Fear, most of the images used in this student project are from that very game, none of the imagery is my own only used for project purposes. The game features 3 main puzzles and 2 small areas to explore, while experiencing all the disturbing audio surrounding you assaulting your senses.

As said previously this has been my favourite project thus far, and soon I will begin development on a VR centred brief, so updates to come regarding ideas, progression and more!  

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Finished.

After spending the last two weeks on a lighting brief project I can happily say everything is done and wrapped up for submission. I went with an idea of exploring a mansion where all the puzzles and mysteries had to be solved by reading clues found in poems, riddles and notes. The player has limited vision with a dimly lit flash light as they explore around the disturbing rooms, forcing themselves to look at the at times disgusting images and paintings on the walls to find their way to safety!  

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My next upcoming brief is “The Lighting brief”.

The idea is the base a level design around the idea of light funnily enough, and here are a few of the ideas I came up with.

1. “The Projector” The idea is that you explore a mansion and its many dark rooms eventually finding a room which in its centre holds a projector facing a blank wall and around the room 3 portals. Each portal takes you to a different room of the mansion holding different puzzles and traps rewarding you with a different coloured light for each room. After you retrieve all the lights you find your way back to the project room and place them inside the projector. After this the projector projects the lights on the wall blending them all into a white light and creating a transparent material you can walk through. This leads into a long dark corridor with a very well lit room at the end. This end room holds another final puzzle which is lots of mirrors you must rotate to beam the light back at the projector down the hallway. When both lights finally meet you create a final portal taking you to the end of the game.

This is only one of my ideas and is currently in the making, stay tuned throughout the next few weeks to see more development and progress eventually ending with a final finished level!

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More examples of what we have been up to, the following are all cards you can obtain throughout the game and add to your sequence! Some of these are easy and some can be quiet difficult especially when you eventually have to remember 6-7 in a row!!! The others are risk cards, these are a new game mode added to the game which add more difficulty starting half way up the board, some can be good but most are bad! 

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With 1 more day to go the game we have been working on for the past 3 weeks has finally come together! We came up with the idea of re-creating the old game Pat-a-cake but transformed it into a board/card game and a memory game! The aim of the game is to create a sequence of moves up to 8 long! You have to remember all the cards you pick up and add to the sequence from memory, obviously there is a lot more to be explained and this is only a very short snip, but with the final product finalising tomorrow be ready for more! 

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Something which I don’t currently have any photos for is my new project, and I can tell you that at the moment its going to be a memory based card game with board game elements! Based on the old game patty cake, you will have to memorise a list of cards given to you, up to 5 and then go through them all, the amount you get right is the amount of points you get, but for each you get wrong is a minus point, at 5 minus points you lose! You can choose how many cards you want to try and remember, so it becomes a risk/reward situation, but very soon I will be able to show off some concept art, and physical items of the game! Stay tuned!

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My latest level! A city escape game where you have 4 minutes to find a way out before everything is blown, you along with it! Here are just a few screenshots, the darker pictures are of the final product along with some development shots of some things that didn’t make the cut, and some things that were taken from older versions and made better. More pictures to come soon!

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Happy to report first semester went fantastic! Could've been better, but that means there's more to be done and improved and i can't wait to continue in semester 2! #gamesdesign #universiry #videogames #designer

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Sorry that I haven’t been uploading lately, been pretty crazy these past few weeks, but I assure you more is to come with university kicking up again! Here is a 2D platformer I’ve been working on these past few weeks, a little knight venturing through a destroyed ruin of a castle!

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Finally finished! This is the final draft of my witches house for my door brief, although it might not look like much here, most of them aren’t in game screenshots aside the one with the barn. I will be uploading more in game screenshots and possibly game play clips soon!

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Current progress on my door brief, whats the game?  Your stuck in a haunted house with limited viability and defence, you must navigate the house and find a way to escape through the sewers through various different puzzles, monsters and traps! Stay tuned for more.

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Trying to fix flipping issues with the photos but this is my first project this year, The Door Brief. We have to make a game funnily enough based around a door or simply just leave a door in the game which you can open with a line tracer its up to us.

The idea is still in the making, and will progress over the coming weeks, but stay tuned for a witches house, spooky rooms and puzzles spanning the whole house all to see the mystery behind 1 door.

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Here are some in game screenshots of my level within Unreal Engine! I’ve taken some screenshots in lit mode and unlit mode to give a feel of what the actual  level is like from both perspectives. It consists of an outside area and an inside cave with a huge puzzle obstacle course for the player to navigate throughout without dying or being hit by the rising water chasing after them!

Hope you enjoy my work!

[jacob-simpson-sev]

Sorry on massive delay and updates with my project, but I’m happy to say its finally finished. This will be a 2 part blog about my Hammer girl project, this post is about the blueprints I made within Unreal Engine and what they did to my overall game.

I had many different blueprints within the game, NPC actors, Quest givers, destructible objects and so on, these are just some of the ones I made to help the game. Here are the following, 1. NPC Actor/ Quest giver 2. Rising water blueprint and when the player touches the water they die and respawn 3. Moving saw blade's that go back and forth, again if they touch the player they die and respawn 4. A collectable item which counts as currency within the game to spend on items such as the hammer for the main character

There are more within the game too, there is a destructible mesh, an animated torch that hammergirl can equip and use alongside with level loaders and more. If you want to watch the full video of my run through here is the link to the youtube video, all music used within the game is not mine and was used only to showcase my project. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmOF2SVVP8s&feature=youtu.be