New Job & Preparing for Submission

Deadline is coming up and I'm hoping to submit my final masters project a little early. This is due to me getting a job at PlayStation that I start on Monday. I was supposed to be moving into my new flat in Liverpool this weekend but due to estate agents being incompetent I don't think I'll be able to pick up my keys until Monday which is very convenient thanks guys. (I'm mad) 

As a Plan B I'm having to stay at a hotel for 3 days so I can get to work and hopefully find the time to collect my keys and get moved into my new digs without having to stay in the hotel for too long. No idea how I'm going to be able to collect my keys AND move all my stuff from Blackpool whilst I'm working though. I'll figure it out, hopefully.

Anyways, to finish off semester 3, Skyla's Meteor Race contains a decently polished playable level, which I will show through a video. The 2nd level that has been white blocked is going to be completely scrapped, as there is no way I am going to find the time to make the art assets for it before deadline, especially now I'm having to mess about without a computer at a hotel. While scrapped, the plans for the level are still all there in a previous blog post, and I will include a short video clip showing the white block of the level after the footage of the gameplay walkthrough. 

For the degree show, I'd like to have a computer available with StarKid and Skyla's Meteor Race playable's on there and I also want a showreel clip to be playing on a nearby shared TV with gameplay footage of all 3 of my games this year. I will also include a small poster that will explain what I set out to accomplish during my masters and what I was focusing on designing in each project. I'll hang this up near the computer.

Skyla's Meteor Race Update 11: Level Design & Unreal Engine Progress

I originally did the level design for the first level on paper, but I don't have a scanner so I'll include a picture of the original pages and also a traced Photoshop version.

The level consists of two main areas that the player must progress through. The first area is dedicated to teaching the player how to play and the second section is a larger and more explorable section with a gradual increase of challenge.

Whilst building the level in Unreal Engine I made a couple of changes and additions that I felt were needed to increase play time as well as present new challenges and obstacles for the player.

Screenshots of unreal engine level building progress:

The player can enter Skyla's house at the beginning of the game. I plan to mess around with lighting here and touch up the visuals when I can to make the house more homely. Looking for a warm and cosy atmosphere to the room.

Signs like these will pop up to teach the player how to perform certain actions

Cloud Sprites are uncommon collectibles that can be found in the level. Cloud Sprites would be used to unlock later levels in the game. This message pops up when you collect the first one, when collecting more Skyla will pose and continue on her adventure.

There are some areas in the level that will have these little notes, reminding me what assets I've still yet to create and where to place them.

These devices allow Skyla to jump into the foreground/background. When standing on them an input prompt will appear, showing the player how to activate the device.

Current block map progress of the second area. Whilst building it, I decided to add a completely new section that includes turret projectiles that Skyla must hide from or avoid.

Skyla's Meteor Race Update 10: Animation Dump 2

It's been a long time since I last updated, mostly due to wanting to just get on with it as well as applying for jobs in the games industry. I attended an interview last Friday that went really well and I have an interview somewhere else tomorrow, so hopefully I will have an industry job to jump into just before Masters ends.

For now though, some updates!

The main character and the game itself have a name now! The main character being called "Skyla" and the game's title being "Skyla's Meteor Race". This is due to the premise of the game being Skyla's adventure to a meteor crash site, however, a sinister character is also trying to get a hold of the meteor for his own dark reasons. Skyla must find the meteor before the enemy does, defending herself from his minions and nefarious plans along the way.

Here is an animation dump of some new animations that I did and have implemented to Skyla's player blueprint inside Unreal Engine. A lot of these animations are attacks, during these animations I scaled Skyla's body parts up to exaggerate the animations and give her attacks more range while also indicating to the player more clearly where exactly the hitbox's of the attacks will be located.

Jab 1 (X While grounded)

Jab 2 ( X X While grounded)

Jab Finisher ( X X X While grounded)

Full Jab Combo Finisher

Forward Tilt (X whilst tilting movement stick forward)

Up Tilt (X whilst tilting movement stick upwards)

Down Tilt (X whilst tilting movement stick downwards)
This move functions as an attack as well as a way to slide through small cracks and openings.

Neutral Air (X in air)

Up Air (X in air while tilting movement stick upwards)

Back Air (X in air whilst tilting movement stick in the opposite direction Skyla is facing)

Forward Air (X in air whilst tilting movement stick in the direction Skyla is facing)

Down Air (X in air whilst tilting movement stick downwards)

Taking Damage
After taking damage Skyla will be knocked backwards a little until landing on her feet after one flip (Is looped in the GIF but will only happen once in game)

Drop Through Platform

Looking in the distance

Collected Item Pose

Exit/Victory Pose

2.5D Sidescroller Update 9: Animations Implemented - Build 3 Ready!

All of the necessary animations needed for build 3 are now complete. From my last post I did 4 other animations that were missing, being turning on the spot, air dodging, wall sliding and wall jumping.

Turning

Wall Slide

Wall Jump

Air Dodge

Build 3 contains the same test area as build 1 and 2 with minor adjustments and bug fixes. Animations have been attached to the player character. The build has been sent out to multiple playtesters.

While I'm waiting for feedback for build 3 I have made a start to designing the first level of the game. The game will begin with the main character leaving her house to investigate a nearby crash site of a shooting star. Level design plans have been written and drawn on paper, once it is complete I will take pictures of them and include them in a level design blog update.

I have also modelled a couple of assets I will need to decorate the first level, alongside some gameplay assets such as food items that will be used to replenish the players health.

Very early in game mock up of how the level will begin. The player will begin by emerging from their house and take control from there. If they backtrack on themselves though you will actually be able to enter the house.

Current Tasks

• Finish the level design on paper

• Blueprint and model more assets that I will need for the game, such as a 3D tile set for building the level with, level decorations and gameplay assets such as hazards, levers, collectibles etc.

2.5D Sidescroller Update 8: Animation Dump 1

Another animation update! Rather than update the blog with work I do every day I'll just wait until I do a hefty amount and then dump them all into big posts. So this will be my first animation dump, these animations are mainly aerial animations, alongside some grounded animations I forgot about.

Crouch from stand (Reverse animation when going from crouch to stand)

Crouch Idle

Run Skid

Turn - While Running

Now I don't know why I tried to GIF this one, it's a 5 frame animation of a "jumpsquat" and converting to a gif has made it look funny. (Looks like she is dancing) My thought process was, rather than have the player jump into the air right away I thought it might be a good idea to show smoother animation by seeing the character push themselves from the ground before a jump. This could be good, but depending on how it is set up in engine it might sacrifice control responsiveness by having an extremely short delay before actually jumping into the air (extremely short being barely noticeable) but it's still a possible risk. I might try it and play test how it looks and feels. If it's naff I can always throw it out.

Jumping Forward (The First Attempt) something didn't look right so I retried this animation and changed the arm movements slightly)

Jumping Forward (Second Attempt)

Jumping Backward

Fall - Regular

Fall - Regular (Second Attempt, didn't like this one. Not getting used)

Fall Forwards

Fall Backwards

Double Jump Forward

Double Jump Backward

Fall Neutral - After Double Jump

Fall Forwards - After Double Jump

Fall Backwards - After Double Jump

I still have to do an air dodge animation and a wall jump animation. After that I THINK I've got all the animations I need for the next build of the game. After I have those last two it's onto the process of hooking up the animations to my character in unreal engine.