Pizza Pasta Games

Games Design/Development Blog

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Copper Rigging/Animation Update

Hey guys! Sorry this week has been slow. I’ve had to focus on my other Uni project a lot this week because I’m being forced to draw again. I’m not the best drawer so when i do draw it slows down my work flow by a lot because it takes me so long. 

Today I continued with rigging and animating Copper a little more. I managed to create a very simple idle animation. I’ve never rigged and animated before so this is all new to me. I’m hoping to improve the more I practice. Hopefully I can whip up a running animation tomorrow :) 

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Heart of Copper - Update #1

The past two weeks I have been busy creating a small prototype for Heart of Copper to show to my tutors to give them a general idea of what I’m going for and what the game will look like. Luckily it came out a success! They liked that I had a prototype already and I can now safely begin working hard on the game. Here are the features that I focused on in my prototype.  

MOVEMENT

First of all and most importantly the movement of copper. For now I’m using a default Unreal blueprint mannequin but I manged to successfully create the movement style that I wanted. Copper begins to accelerate at a quick pace taking him no time at all to reach max speed and move forward. When turning, copper will slide a tiny bit whilst changing the direction he is running. The slide doesn’t feel slippery and is more so a very quick brake to give the player a better sense of a character quickly turning in another direction at max speed. Copper has a heavy gravity to him causing him to fall quickly, however his double jump can be used to reset his gravity and allow the player to regain control over a falling Copper.  

SCRAP/PICKUPS 

Scrap will be the most common pickup in the game. Here I managed to create a pickup that is collected on contact and added to the players current scrap total on the HUD. I also created a magnet effect to the pickups so they are easier to collect without having to be too precise about picking them up seeing as though they will be littered all throughout the levels. 

 DYNAMIC CAMERA TEST/WALL JUMPING  

Certain areas of the game will have a different camera angle either for cinematic effect or just to show the player a larger area more clearer. Here we have an example of what I can do with the dynamic camera. I also managed to implement a nice wall jump after a lot of trial and error. The jumping feels fine, good enough height from the jump, nice speed, however I would like to implement a wall slide feature where Copper will latch onto the wall and begin sliding down the wall. The player will be able to wall jump during this while also slowing down their falling momentum when falling from a big height. 

PATROLLING ENEMY/DAMAGE AND HEALTH SYSTEM 

Lastly I added in a quick patrolling enemy which will cause damage to the player on contact. Then a health pickup allowing players to regain their lost health. With further work I would like there to be a knockback on Copper when he is hit while also making him invulnerable for a limited time. Also if you see that large sign with an X on it, that was me beginning to implement a combat system to the game. However I am going to wait to do that until I have Copper’s model and animations, which is what I am working on this upcoming week! 

I know it was a large update but hopefully those interested stuck around to read the whole thing! I’ve very excited to dive in deeper into this project and I hope you’ll stick around to see the on going progress on Heart of Copper 

Expect model and animation showcase in the upcoming weeks :) 

*Edit: Gifs didn’t work, here are the new ones

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3rd Year Honours Project - Heart of Copper

Today I begin developing a game idea I have had since I was about 13 years old. I’ve wanted to make this game for a long time and finally, my 3rd year of university is a great opportunity to begin work on it. 

For my honours project this year I am tasked with focusing on an aspect of games design for a year long project that I will showcase at the end of the year at my degree show. This piece of work will also be a part of my online portfolio I will be creating to show future employers. 

I will be focusing on Game Design and Level Design. 

I will be regularly updating on this blog about my progress on “Heart of Copper” I’m hoping to begin work on it today. Stay tuned for more news!