Spring Jam 2018

During the spring break Unreal Engine hosted another game jam, I teamed up with 3D artist Lee Stockton and Jamie Dubuisson for this game jam. The theme was “Transformation” and ran from 10th May until the 15th May 2018
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We split the job roles between us, I did the game and level design, Lee did the 3D models and Jamie created the Sci-Fi robot.

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We decided on the concept of a side scroller puzzle game and we came up with the idea of a game that transformed through the ages of sci-fi. This would begin with old 1950's sci-fi and progress through to modern day utilising effects and overlays to depict the TV of that era as well as all the little mistakes often seen within them. 

Instead of doing a generic sci-fi game we decided to design the game around been on an old 1950’s movie set and you take control of one of the actors following a script. 

We did not manage to complete this theme but utilised another aspect of transformation and had it so the player could switch between a human and a robot to solve puzzles and achieve victory over the evil space wizard.

I created a quick visual level block out in Unreal and Photoshop while and began working on mechanics for game. The mechanics for the game where simple, using interaction systems, doors, lifts and pull down button systems.

During this time Lee was creating models for the level and Jamie was creating the robot character then sending to Lee to rig and animated.  

After the mechanics where completed I worked on the look dev for the game but creating visual style that looks 1950’s and using post processing to create a TV effect from that era. After this I created little touches in the level to fit with the theme and touch upon the bad visual effects from the era such as ropes on the doors and guy hidden in the set controlling the staging of the set.

As it was a side scrolling level I wanted it to make it feel bigger than it was as it locked on to one axis, I added light rigs to the top of the level so when the player jumps they can see it’s the top of the level and I added depth by adding platforms behind where the player can move and added NPC and models onto this platform to add depth. 

The small video of the game can be seen below.

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