Initial Ideas

Idea #1 Dungeon Crawler

Specialism – Programming

Genre – Dungeon Crawler/ Action RPG

My first idea is a dungeon crawler type game following you as the character as you delve deeper into the dungeon fighting off its enemies looking for potential loot at the end. The game would be a top down view much like that of League of Legends or Diablo, giving the player this sense of being in control and ordering their character through the dungeon. I would want to give the game a somewhat gritty design which would help convey the themes of order and chaos. The character would have the ability to command chaos, that they gain as they kill the enemies (Demons) within the dungeon which they would then be able to cast special abilities with. As the player gets further into the dungeon they would encounter some enemies with increasing difficulty but they would have a better chance of dropping more chaos and loot.

I would want to keep the colours within this game quite dark and have the certain things within the game be more emissve to draw the players attention. For example I would make sure the demons within the level are quite bright with reds and oranges to make them pop from the more dark background. I would also like the players special abilities to be brighter than the other things present in the level.

There would be quite a lot of assets I would need to get for this game like the main character and the enemies as well as the terrain of the dungeon. the biggest challenge behind this would be getting the all the different assets to mesh together with the same style so I will have to do a lot of research to get assets that I could be happy with.

There are a lot of mechanics that I will need to create for this game idea firstly I will need to create the player movement system with the top down look along with a melee combat system. I would also need to make the special abilities for the player to use when they have the required amount of chaos. There will also be an enemy AI to create that can move towards and attack the player when they are in range.

This game would be an appropriate test for me as I have dabbled in AI in UE4 before so I have an idea of how the behavior tree systems and blackboards work within the engine and I would like to broaden my knowledge within this area of programming. This game fits the theme as you will be taking an active role in the fight of order and chaos as a knight that is a symbol of order fighting demons which personify chaos, I will also be sure to make the materials I choose and the assets I have reflect this theme.

Idea 2# Civilization Controller

Specialism – Programming

My second idea will be a type of city management game where the player will have to build their own kingdom whilst managing the levels of chaos and order not to be leaning too much into one or the other. The game will be set in medieval times and it will have a more stylised art style which I think would be more appealing for the player to look at as they construct their city. The core gameplay will revolve around the player managing three resources, these being chaos, order and gold. the player would need gold to be able to create the different buildings and monuments that affect you civilizations overall order and chaos score and if either order or chaos reach max you will lose the game.

I would want the colours present in this game to be quite and colourful so that they are appealing to look at as it would be what the player is prominently looking at, a easily navigable menu system that is also colourful and well presented will be essential as this will be where the main bulk of the game will be played. The lighting within the game to be a soft, warm glow but have this dynamically change depending on if the player is tipping more into chaos or order

I would need to source quite a lot of different medieval building assets that would fit into the aesthetic that I was trying to achieve as it is important to build up an aesthetic for a city builder game that is uniform and consistent so that it truly feels like a cohesive civilization is being built. Other than this I wouldn’t need any other assets and I would be able to design the landscape with the sculpting tools within Unreal Engine.

Mechanically speaking I will need to have a setup a menu/ UI system that allows the player to navigate and choose what buildings that can build. I would also need to create a system using grids that allows the player to maneuver the positioning and placement of the buildings they want to build.

This game would be quite a challenging experience for me as I haven’t got much experience with the UI tools within UE4 so to create something that is smooth and well designed could be a challenge. I have also not made a game within this genre before so there are a multitude of mechanics such as the placing of buildings from a shop that I would be learning from scratch. This game reflects the theme as it directly addresses the correlation of order and chaos and how the dualism of the two is important to the stability and success of a nation.

Idea #3 Moba Styled Hoard Game

Specialism – Programming

For my third and final game idea I have conceptualised a top down view game with three different types of characters who all have different sets of abilities and play styles. You would have to pick your character and begin to survive against an increasingly difficult number of enemies as you progress through the waves to try and get as far as you can. The game will have a medieval setting as the characters you will be able to play as will be an archer, knight and wizard. you will be fighting off hoards of demons as you aim to protect your kingdom from the onslaught of enemies. As you progress through the waves killing enemies you will begin to accrue experience which you could then use to level up your

I would want to create a very stylised feel for this game to allow the players to get more attached to the playable characters, making them more unique and quite standout from the other entities within the game. I would want the colour scheme to include bright and vibrant colours and have the playable characters beset in blues, whites and golds representing order and then have the demons coloured with dark reds and oranges offsetting them from the player as polar opposites in chaos.

I would need to do a lot of asset research and collection to give this game the stylised feel I would want. I would need to find three separate character models that are all in a matching art style whilst all being easy to differentiate. I could find assets for demons and recolour them to create variation within their design. Lastly I would need to find materials to apply to my level that sell the stylised feel and make the character feel grounded in the world.

There are a lot of mechanics I would need to create for this game and the most challenging of those would be making three separate characters who all have different abilities and capabilities. I would be able to transfer the base parts of each character to each other such as the movement and health etc but the specific abilities would take a lot of my time to create. Another mechanic I would need to create would be the enemy AI with a spawning system that is wave based.

Mechanically speaking this game would be a challenge for me as I would need to use the animation software within UE4 and the animation blueprints to create the different abilities for all the characters and animation is something I don’t have a great deal of experience with. I would also have to delegate much of my time towards the creation of these animations so I think the general scope of this project would pose the biggest challenge for me. As with idea one this game is linked to the theme with the interaction of the enemies and the player characters as they would represent the different sides of order and chaos and how they are in a constant battle.

Evaluation

My first idea was a medieval styled dungeon crawler game and I really like this idea as its something I have had an interest in creating before and I believe what I have done in my previous projects has helped give me a good enough understanding of UE4 to allow me to tackle this challenge. I think this idea has a good range of difficult mechanics and gameplay elements that will challenge me as a programmer whilst also being a reasonable enough that I will be able to create a polished finished project by the deadline. My second idea was a civilization simulator and I really did like the idea behind this game and I think it fits the theme very well, it has a range of interesting mechanics to create that would stretch my skills as I have not attempted anything like this game before in my previous work. Due to this however I think this idea would be too strenuous for me to create a finished product that I would be happy to submit and exhibit.

My third and final idea was a moba styled hoard game and again I think this idea has some real potential to be a great game as I have created the wave based spawning and enemy AI before. I would however have to figure out the moba styled ability and leveling system which are things I haven’t done before and then the breadth of the idea including three sepreate characters might be too much for me to achieve in my given time frame and if I was to reduce the scope of the project by reducing the number

I will be going with my first idea. This is because I feel that the dungeon crawler gives me the biggest test of my skills whilst simultaneously being an achievable project for me. I like the range of mechanics I will be able to create for this game and the level design aspects that will be involved compared to my other ideas which is another contributing factor in my choice. Overall I think this project gives me the best opportunity to showcase my abilities as a programmer

Final Idea

Dungeon Crawler ()

Specialism – Programming

I will be going forward creating my dungeon crawler game idea (Idea #1) as I think it best tests my abilities in terms of the mechanics I will need to create and it is the idea I feel most comfortable and excited to create.

The idea behind this game is a knight of a great kingdom, exploring and conquering dungeons that are wrought with demons. You will be playing the game from a top down view much like that of Diablo and controlling your character who will have a basic attack set that are complimented by some special attacks/ abilities that the player will be able to use once they have accrued enough “Chaos” to cast those abilities, you will be able to acquire the chaos resource by killing the demons in the level so using the abilities wisely will be key. The game will be as I have said previously set in a dungeon that has been overrun by demons so I want the dungeon to have a derelict and foreboding feel. The enemy AI will have varying difficulty as you get through the dungeon, at the start of the dungeon the enemies will be few in number and quite weak but as you carry on through the level you will find tougher enemies who are could also be grouped in greater numbers. I will include traps during the level that will challenge the player like spike traps or fragile flooring that could break out from under the player. there will also be a loot system in the game where by the enemies you kill will have a chance of dropping some loot like gold along with health and the chaos you need to cast abilities, the more difficult the enemy is that you kill will have a correlating affecting on the amount of loot that can be dropped.

The genre of this game is a dungeon crawler / fantasy action rpg, I thought this genre would be perfect for the theme as it allows me to encompass order and chaos in a more biblical sense with demons representing the chaos in the world and knights who represent the order and justice of the human world. I have chosen the programming pathway for this project as I think it tests my skills with systems I haven’t created before which will help me grow my skillset.

I want the look of the game to have a somewhat dark feel so when you are in the dungeon it feels ominous or foreboding to explore but on the flip side of that I want the character to stand out from that and almost be like the light in the darkness for the player. I want the player to feel like the hero of the game cleansing the world of the demons that plague them to restore order one step at a time. With the art style I want to lean more into gritty realism as I think it will better convey the feelings I want the player to feel when playing through the dungeon.

In terms of mechanics I will need to create a player character with top down movement that can attack on command whilst also having two special abilities that have varying affects. Another mechanic I will need to create will be the enemy AI in this game, I will need to setup a nav mesh for the enemies to follow and a trigger area that activates them to be able to chase and attack the player. The enemy will also need to be able to do damage to the player and have set drop chances for loot, health and chaos. lastly one of the other main mechanics I will need to create will be the traps that can be triggered throughout the level, I will need to set how much damage they do to the player and how they can be triggered.

The story behind this game is you are a knight of a great kingdom and you have been tasked with the job of delving into known dungeons that demons have taken up residence in to exterminate them, this is to stop them from spreading chaos throughout the land restoring peace and order to the kingdom you serve.

This moodboard is to help reflect and for me to look back and refer to what I want the demons to look like within my game. I really like the designs here, especially the use of reds, oranges and blacks as these directly contradict the sorts of colours I want the player to be represented by. I will be looking back at this moodboard in the future when I come to research assets for my game as I think it will be a helpful guide for me in terms of helping me stay on track for the kinds of colour schemes and designs I am looking for.

This moodboard is to help visualise the kind of angle I want the player to be looking from and the kind of feel I want for my game. I really like some of the screenshots from Diablo and Path of Exile as they represent quite well the style of game I am trying to create. It will be helpful for me to look back on this moodboard when creating my game to see how my game compares and if I am building the right feel I want for my game in terms of visuals ans some gameplay elements.