For this week’s theme of the week, we have 3 weeks to construct and build a prototype using either teamwork or creating the game elements about teamwork. My idea is to create a 3D Game/Prototype of a chasing and collection game within Unreal Engine, this will require the elements of teamwork to make the game concepts and ideas as I build the game.
TeamWork –
Having my work colleagues generate ideas for the game
Having sketches made from others
Getting collaborative feedback
Background/Story –
The game is set in the location of a shopping centre on a Sunday, you (the player) work in a shop within this centre and you’ve had the most shift ever! You decide to try and sneak away but the manager has spotted you. Your goal is to find and collect the keys that are scattered around the whole store without getting caught by your manager. There will be about 12 different keys scattered across the place, some may be located in easy locations like shelves, and others are more hidden.
Game Inspiration –
Created by Manic Mice, Lunch Lady is a 1-4 player online co-op survival horror game. The school final exams are coming up and the best idea you and your friends had was to steal the test answers. Find all 10 pages and don’t get caught by the murderous Lunch Lady!
Link to Trailer: https://youtu.be/uceawUKMSf4 (Accessed, 10 April 2022)
Environment –
To make this game environment, I used basic shapes and platforms within unreal to sculpt the shopping centre’s appearance. Since I’ve only got only just under 3 weeks to make this game, I have built this low-poly so the objects aren’t as detailed as I would have wanted them to be.
The layout and the whole shop’s floor plan have been influenced by ASDA Kingswood shopping centre, I thought this would be heavily suited for my project and since I am working with the Mcdonald’s employees to make this game we all have a better understanding of the store than anyone else.
Image by Katie Pugh, Website: Hull Daily Mail, URL: Shoppers brave huge queues at Asda Kingswood to grab Bank Holiday supplies – Hull Live (hulldailymail.co.uk) (Accessed, 17/04/22)
Scenery –
For the scenery of the environment, I added obstacles like shelves and boxes, these will be great for when the player is trying to hide or loop around to avoid the manager and the guards.
The layout of the shop isn’t too complex, it involves equal spacing of the objects to fill in empty areas, most obstacles/structures are mainly shelves scattered for simplicity due to the amount of time I had to make this game.
Since the main area of the story involves the main character storming out of work, I decided to add more details to this area of the map. The models still remain low-poly however, this was to match the overall style of the game, the additional details mainly were applying more objects to models to build more of a structure resembling an item with slight accuracy.
Player Game Movements –
As far as game movements go, I have given the main character the basic mechanics of a first-person game. The user is able to move around in all directions using the WASD keys with looking around using the mouse. A sprinting feature has been added to the character whenever the left shift has been held in, this increases the players speed by a little and slowly drains stamina as they run. Crouching was also added to the player, this was so that the user can sneak around obstacles and hide behind objects without being detected by the AI.
Controls –
E – Interact
Esc/P – Pause
L-Shift – Sprint
L-CTRL/C – Crouch
AI Player Movements –
To get a base model of the AIs that’ll be hunting the player down I duplicated the player’s model and colour coded the different bots, the manager is highlighted yellow and the security guards are black. Each of these Ais serves the same purpose to capture the player when spotted and roam looking for the player. At first, these 2 models had the same chase code and speed because it was easy to just duplicate the code but I soon after altered them to make the came to have an interesting difficulty.
The speed of the manager was set so it would be slightly higher than the main player, this was so that as soon as you run out of stamina the character can catch up with ease and possibly capture you. Security guards were the same at first until I changed the location of their starting points, when the speed was set to the same the game was almost impossible to outrun them all so I made them slower than the player, making them seem like an obstacle avoid.
Ai chase code –
11/04/22, Gameplay Update –
Shows basic chasing mechanics, stamina, Ai and environment.
Notes from team to add after update –
Add lighting
Finish modelling
Finish collection system
Add a pause screen
Add audio to the chasing track of us shouting
This audio was found in a music library, used commonly for dramatic action scenes. I thought id use this sound loop for when the AI spots the player, this is so when the player hears this sound they know when to run or to hide away from the managers/security guards’ sight.
Non-CopyRighted Music Used – Freesound – “Action music loop with dark ambient drones” by burning-mir (Accessed, 10,04,22)
16/04/22, Gameplay Update –
Shows basic chasing mechanics, stamina, Ai, environment, lighting, and player movements with a flashlight.
Notes from team to add after update –
Make guards have a flashlight
Finish collection system
Add a pause screen
Add audio to the chasing track of us shouting
Collecting System –
Once I had completed the main AIs movements and further features of the map, I decided to work on the most important feature of the game, making the real challenge…the collection system!
This system was the most time-consuming part of the whole project as I struggled to wrap my head around the coding, I kept tangling up a few areas making features work oddly so I asked one of my game design friends to have a quick look for me. Turns out I wasn’t far off from making it work, all I had to do was replace one of the variables and create a reference for each of the collectable items.
The key cards are scattered around the whole map, easily located by a glowing blue aura wrapped around the object. From above, the glowing aura actual works very well within the dark atmosphere acting like a guide for the player to follow to find the keys.
Once I had 10 of these cards scattered around I had a great idea for the last 2, this was a very experimental idea which ended up working very well, I attached/parented the card to the back of the guard’s body making it so that the user has so snatch/steal the card without getting caught.
Also to build on more of the feedback given, I decided to add a flashlight system for the Guards and the manager. By giving the AIs a source of light it provided extra clarity on the areas to avoid for the player, also adds detail with them chasing/hunting down the user.
20/04/22, Gameplay Update –
Shows basic chasing mechanics, stamina, Ai + flashlight, environment, lighting, player movements + flashlight, and collection system.
Notes from team to add after update –
Add a pause screen
Add audio to the chasing track of us shouting
Widgets –
To create the main menu screen, I generated a new level naming it “Main_Menu” this was so I could have the game begin on this screen and then when a button is clicked it’ll play and move onto the actual game level. To make the buttons and UI elements I used widgets and rigged them up/coded them to link them to the correct screens.
As an extra feature, I looked into making an options menu. For this, I had to watch/research how to make codes work for resolution, textures and differences in qualities, I wanted to add this options feature so it’ll be more accessible for different players and computer builds so the game can run smoothly.
Finally, I created a credits widget with all of the contributors to the game’s names displayed on the screen. These names shall grow as the game develops, the main people helping me build this game are work colleagues.
Pause Menu Widget –
21/04/22, Gameplay Update –
Shows basic chasing mechanics, stamina, Ai + flashlight, environment, lighting, player movements + flashlight, collection system, main menu + pause menu.
Notes from team to add after update –
Add Background Image to the menu
Add Win Screen
Add audio to the chasing track of us shouting
Straight away I began working on the feedback given, starting with the background of the main menu. For this, I got one of my colleagues to draw some imagery using Sketchbook pro and apply these elements using Photoshops layers with in-game screenshots.
After adding the main menu background I moved on to adding more in-game lighting, these elements included adding spotlights attaching them to the lights that dangle from the roof.
In-Game Screenshot –
Security Guard Chase Audio –
Mixed voice audio with the in-game chasing soundtrack.
Here’s a short description of the game, this includes the main background story and controls on how to work the game. The following screenshot has been taken from the website itch.io, this is the website I have chosen to use to publish my game on.
Link to Game: The Close by Skows Studios (itch.io)
Gameplay Video:
Note – There were over 30 minutes of footage that had to be compressed into 3 mins.