3d-game-concept

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Import issue that I had to overcome

Another thing was a model I had imported. Due to me not being 100% with 3d modelling I had imported a model of a bumper cars arena from turbosquid. When doing this I made the horrible discovery of it having 256 different materials. I got through 25 of the materials which were mainly the outside parts of the arena before it was suggested that it was too much time wasted and that it wouldn't be too significant if it would remain unfinished.

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Development feedback

When attempting to code in the spiderlings I had tried many things out in response to feedback, such as spawning the spiders in a different location, making them drop down on you, and coming out of the spider boss. However, the recurring issue was that the spiderlings' actor was successfully spawned in but the AI did not spawn with the blueprint which meant the spider could be killed and could kill you, but it didn't move. I spent a lot of time attempting to fix this where I was at a stage in the project where I needed to wrap things up if I wanted to proof read my blogs and final evaluation.

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Themepark/amusement park research

An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often featuring multiple areas with different themes. Unlike temporary and mobile funfairs and carnivals, amusement parks are stationary and built for long-lasting operation. They are more elaborate than city parks and playgrounds, usually providing attractions that cater to a variety of age groups. While amusement parks often contain themed areas, theme parks place a heavier focus with more intricately-designed themes that revolve around a particular subject or group of subjects.

Amusement parks evolved from European fairs, pleasure gardens, and large picnic areas, which were created for people's recreation. World's fairs and other types of international expositions also influenced the emergence of the amusement park industry. Lake Compounce opened in 1846 and is considered the oldest, continuously-operating amusement park in North America.

The amusement park evolved from three earlier traditions: traveling or periodic fairs, pleasure gardens, and exhibitions such as world fairs. The oldest influence was the periodic fair of the Middle Ages - one of the earliest was the Bartholomew Fair in England from 1133. By the 18th and 19th centuries, they had evolved into places of entertainment for the masses, where the public could view freak shows, acrobatics, conjuring and juggling, take part in competitions and walk through menageries.

Mechanised thrill rides are a defining feature of amusement park attractions. Early rides include the carousel, which originally developed from cavalry training methods first used in the Middle Ages. By the 19th century, carousels were common in parks around the world. Another such ride which shaped the future of the amusement park was the roller coaster. The origins of roller coasters can be traced back to 17th-century Russia, where gravity-driven attractions, which at first only consisted of individual sleds or carts riding freely down chutes on top of specially constructed snow slopes with piles of sand at the bottom for braking.

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Love Hulten

Love Hulten is an audiovisual artist and woodworker specialising in custom work.

With his custom work he has made many fantastic modern day renditions of old machines which applies to this project as he has also made arcade machines.

Here's Love's description of the arcade machine:

OriginX is a handcrafted wooden tribute and a delicate homage to the Pong cabinet. Just like its precursor - OriginX is dressed up in an elegant exterior composed by walnut housing, yellow facade and control panel made from aluminium.

OriginX is a handmade link between the present and the past and a tribute to the arcade. The slim wall mounted cabinet combines modern hardware with classic design and lets you enjoy classic co-op games like Metal Slug, Gauntlet and Contra in first class. It can store over 10.000 emulated games. Add your own favourites through USB and create a personal game library.  

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Accessibility of my game

I would think that my game is not accessible for everyone as there are a few instances of flashing lights of some degree. This would mean If my game were to be published on steam I would have to place a flashing lights warning.

I would also need to include an arachnophobia warning as my game does include a massive spider with spiderlings.

The luminous materials will also fall under bright lights so the bumper car area might either need adjusting or a warning for it as well.

The game's difficulty could also be challenging if the player is not able to remove the smaller spiders first as the only way you can lose the game is by dying to the spiders.

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What could be an ethical issue in my game?

Due to there being massive spiders and a flamethrower it is fairly apparent my game isn't the most kid friendly. There was supposed to be an animation where the spider kills you which have been graphic and could've increased the PEGI rating.

Having a gun in the game may be considered an ethical issue due to increasing conflicts were guns are stereo typically being used as a method of violence. Though most first person games include a gun of some sort, most developers just need to consider this.

My game as it stands does not have many if not no ethical issues but I had to make the game keeping the ethical issues in mind, which is what led the game to not being problematic.

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Ethics in the games industry

The ethics of game design has entered a new era in which the developers offer the players ethical choices of their own. In games such as Fable, where you can become a hero or a villain one choice at time, Molyneux puts the ethical choices in the hands of the player. You can slaughter an entire village, but the consequences come back to haunt you. Word will spread about your reputation and no one will trust you anymore. People will recoil in fear. Or, if you choose to be good, your good deeds can reap rewards from total strangers.

This teaches people how to make ethical choices and lets them learn something both about themselves and the consequences of their actions.

"If you take people, remove them from society, in a world where there are no laws, things will go haywire," Emmert says. "That's what an online game is like. There are no punishments in the online world."

Every game that begins development will have to consider morals

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What is UV mapping?

Put it simply UV mapping is the unwrapping of a model. This technique is sued very frequently if you are exporting a model you would want to have textures. The UV map and the model are bound to each other as the UV is your 3d model, laid out in 2d. The model you export from MAYA must be a fbx file

You can then export your UV into photoshop from MAYA where you can either draw on the map or import images saved on your computer to use as the palette so when you save and export your new UV from photoshop to unreal the model will include whatever edits you have made to it.

UV mapping is a very good way to add a material to an object that is not standard so that it is correctly wrapped around your model.

UV Map Anything in 5 Minutes with Maya - YouTube

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What PEGI rating would my game be an what symbols would it have?

My game does not have any nudity, blood, in app purchases, bad language, discrimination, drugs, or sex.

But due to the fear and violence inclusion my game could only fall under PEGI 7 or 12.

I have decided that it is best for my game to be a PEGI 12 as the violence is slightly more graphic than the guidance provided through the PEGI website.

There are no jumpscares and the only scary thing are the spiders which are not child friendly in terms of models so the fear would make the game a PEGI 7 but because of the violence it will stay at 12.

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FINAL BUILD OF FIRST PERSON GAME

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SWOT

Strengths: I have a good imagination, good at level design.

Weaknesses: Still getting the hang of coding, still getting used to 3d modelling softwares,

Opportunities: Free use of photshop, access to a pc, assistance with coding.

Threats: No internet connection, assets not loading, burnout.

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MOSCOW

Must have: Enemy spider, 3d first person mode, flmaethrower, animations, models.

Should have: trees, bumber cars, assault rifle mode.

Could have: Spiderlings spawn in, projectile spawned by spider, custom arena.

Won't have: VR compatibility, multiplayer. My game could entice a multiplayer function though it was not required for this project.

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How I am going to improve my project after receiving feedback.

After receiving feedback from playtesting it is apparent that there are things for the game to be improved on. Before playtesting I knew there would be a few things I would do differently next time though in terms of things to improve on the 5 people who played my game said the same things I have said in the past.

One recurring thing from the past two surveys is that I have recieved positive feedback for my level design which I am very proud of myself for. There are a couple major things that would enhance gameplay however.

The flames spawned by the flamethrower cause the game to significantly drop frames. This has been an issue since the beginning when I made the flamethrower and I limited the speed in which the flames shot out which made it a little bit better but it was all I could do; so next time I would use a different flame asset than the unreal one.

Another thing that would enhance gameplay is if I made the area before the bossfight a bit bigger as the themepark area is noticeably small. I originally did this because I did not have many assets/models to use in the area so it stayed small as I was only focused on the spider boss.

Spiderlings. I could list many things that were not added to the bossfight but the spiderlings I am going to mention as I did try adding but failed. When attempting this I had tried many different things though none worked. I was able to get the smaller spiders to spawn in though the AI was not working so they would be set in the location it was spawned but they could still kill you. The fact you could be damaged by these spiders meant that the code was in fact working but the AI wasn't meaning the spiderling idea had to be scrapped due to time.

I also needed to make it so the assault rifle was able to damage the spiders as the flamethrower had the code but the regular projectiles did not meaning the bullets fired were completely non lethal.

The last thing I could add is for the model of the gun to change when you switch between flamethrower and assault rifle as it is visually confusing for the player as the rifle stays exactly the same.

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Playtesting results

As we approach the deadline of our project we have began playtesting. This enables me to receive feedback for my game on areas I may not have thought of myself. Playtesting is a great way for developers to get feedback for the game from a players point of view rather than the ones who made the game.

[3d-game-concept]

Sir Carma

Sir Carma (Thibault Simar) is a french art director that has been working with voxels since 2016.

A large majority of his work does not consist of voxels with his work based around voxels only being a hobby. His work using voxels however, is astonishing.

This is my favourite piece of work he has made. The building is made out of voxels and he has edited it using a software to enhance the image significantly.

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What is a voxel?

A single voxel put simply is a cube. A voxel design however is a model which consists of many cubes. Or to be more specific, In 3D computer graphics, a voxel represents a value on a regular grid in three-dimensional space. A volume described as voxels can be visualised either by direct volume rendering or by the extraction of polygon ISO-surfaces that follow the contours of given threshold values.

Voxels have been used in 3d modelling and even some games, with those games being minecraft and crossy road.

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Win and lose states in other games

A win state is an end screen put it simply when you beat the objectives the game has thrown at you and the lose state is when anything prevents you from completing that objective, such as dying in the final bossfight.

In cuphead you have to safely navigate through the level before either reaching the end or you get to the boss fight. Though some levels are just straight into a bossfight. When you complete a level it brings a screen up showing your stats for the level you have just been through.

If you lose three lives in the duration of the level you will be presented with a lose screen showing how close you were to beating the level with a quote from the enemy that killed you.

In GTA when you are killed your screen flashes and then presents the text 'wasted' across your screen. Though this isn't considered a lose state it is quite similar to the win or lose screen.

And if you pass a heist in online you go into a short cutscene of your character celebrating before seeing a heist passed screen which can also be considered a win state.